Endgame
by Yuna Yami Mouto
Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.
1. Chapter 1

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

Tony Stark was not a happy scout. Not at all. He was still hurting, still undergoing physical therapy, still dealing with both nightmares and the public backlash of the so called Civil War when he had received the news from the UN Council that the rouge Avengers had been pardoned and that they will be returning stateside in a matter of days. He was glad he at least was warned beforehand instead of it just being dropped in his lap like a certain SHIELD secrety-secret pirate would have done and then patronized him that it was the best way, considering Tony's 'character (flaws)'. Councilmember Ross was at least decent enough to do him that one courtesy, if nothing else.

Tony was expected to go back to being their, for the lack of a better description, sugar daddy as soon as they landed, providing housing, finances, food, equipment and whatever else they might need, starting with the Avengers Compound. That was fine, they could have the place if they wanted it so bad. Tony had moved out a few weeks ago, anyway, relocating to the once again rechristened Stark Tower as his place of residence. He was a well known public figure and the only Avenger people still weren't afraid or distrusting of, since he had always been quite frank with them, especially after Afghanistan. They knew he was as human as them, just as flawed with just as many weaknesses as them and they were content with that knowledge. He'd even been approached a few times by mothers or kids or random men and women, thanking him for protecting them and telling him they felt safe knowing he was just a few blocks away from wherever they lived. The transfer of Iron Man back into New York had even helped SI's stocks, as Pepper had praised him just a couple of days after his move. That was always a plus, making life easier for her and the poor, poor brilliant bastards that worked in their PR team. He resolved to up their paycheck by a couple of zeros. God knows they deserved it.

He had stocked the frigs back at the Compound and had the place cleaned, just to play along with the UN's wishes - T'Challa had gone through a lot of trouble and Tony recognized an almost worthy opponent in the bullshitting field, because that was what this was; the rouges deserved far worse than jail, let alone the life of luxury T'Challa had been providing them with and was now trying to dump them in but fed by Tony's pocket - but he didn't do anything other than that. Contrary to what they, Team Cap and T'Challa seem to think, Tony and SI were under no obligation to provide _anything_ for the Avengers. Not even when he had been a consultant for SHIELD had Tony been under any sort of obligation to provide them with weapons and equipment. He had chosen to do so himself, thinking the Avengers Initiative was an ideal worth standing behind.

In the end, the rouges were right. The Civil War was all Tony's fault. He had given them everything, protected them from the public and the government and the press alike and _that_ had led to them all but ignoring the consequences of their own actions. Their fight at the airport in Germany more than proved it, even if you do ignore the whole bringing bridges down on innocent civilians on the highway or the resisting arrest and assaulting policemen when they tried to take Bucky in. He should have left them to fight their own battles long ago. Let them see that the biggest threat out there was not some evil bad guy with an army or superpowers or even a murderous robot. It was the press and their words. It was the people they were defending, the public. Because if the public is unhappy, the heroes will not be heroes at all, as Team Cap was no doubt learning by now. They're criminals. Terrorists, even, in certain countries and Tony is so _done_ with defending them. Let them reap what they sew.

Going against 117 nations tends to make one the bad guy.

They thought they could pull a Tony Stark? That they could tell the politicians to fuck off because they won't share the most dangerous and advanced piece of tech this side of the Milky Way? They're obviously more stupid than he thought them to be. Iron Man was a patented SI, no _Tony Stark_ idea, design and product. You can't take away a man's private property without needing to go to court about it and, as if SI and Tony himself didn't have a perfect legal department, Tony himself was a beast in the court room. Natasha might be a dangerous person to go up against, if she were to go around revealing her spy secrets and twisting words out of context, but Tony can play her game just as easily.

But the point wasn't about court rooms that the rouges will never see because of T'Challa's influence, nor was it about even the housing and financial concerns. Those will be _their_ concerns soon enough. Tony had done as much as was asked of him. Each one of them has a thousand dollars in their accounts, will have a roof over their heads, the standard gear - no more customized, specialized equipment for them - and a full fridge when they return. That's where Tony is _done_. If the UN or T'Challa tried to make him do more, he will put the full weight of Pepper and SI's legal department into it and they better hope they're ready because, 117 nations or not, Stark International is _global_ and helping all 117 of those nations in various ways that they could not risk losing. No more mister nice guy.

The only thing left to do for Tony is to escort them back to the Compound and inform them of the new Accords copy waiting each one of them in their rooms and that, should they ever want to be on the active roaster again, they're going to need to sign it. Thankfully, he wouldn't have to be alone when he 'welcomes' them back, or else he might just go into a panic attack. He doesn't want to be in the same room as Rodgers, Barns or the Scarlet Witch on his own ever again. Hell, he shudders just at the thought of being in one with _Natasha_. He should have known she would stab him in the back again, even if this time it, thankfully, wasn't literal like last time. And to add to his discomfort levels, Thor and Bruce - how the _hell_ did those two meet up? - were also going to be coming back. Once upon a time, he would have gladly welcomed them both back but Siberia had been a nasty eye opener.

Hoe can you trust a man who would try to choke you when you were out of your only defense and he _knew_ he was stronger than you?

How are you supposed to call the man who fell asleep while you were pouring your soul out to him a friend if he had obviously not cared to listen for longer than five minutes?

How are you supposed to call a group of individuals who never trusted you, liked you, thanked you, appreciated you and never made a move to stop the above mentioned choking while simply standing to the side and watching a team, a _family_ as they used to like to preach?

Tony's done. He's so _done_ with them. He had tried for _years_ to please them, to do things right so he can stand as an equal with them, but they never let him. He was always the one at fault, always the one that they all stepped on but that they never tried to reach back for once they were on solid ground. They were not his friends, not even Bruce, who had been his Science Bro. Not even Thor, who was friends with everyone. And most certainly not Rodgers, who only ever looked at him to search for Howard and would then be disappointed when he only saw Tony. Well, he won't be taking any of that bullshit anymore. They're all just a bunch of hypocrites, anyway.

Still, Tony was told he had to meet them when they landed, and so here he was, dressed in only one of his sharpest business suits with an Arc Reactor on his chest - imagine his horror when he was told his chest would collapse unless he had something implanted in it again; the Arc Reactor was his only choice, he would make no other, even if he didn't need it any more for its original purpose, even if it solidified his break up with Pepper. He had watched as FRIDAY gleefully melted the scratched Vibranium shield and had felt himself relax and feel free for the first time since Sokovia, maybe even since New York. The Arc Reactor had turned out to be a surprisingly comforting presence in his chest, instead of an intrusion like before. At least this time, it wasn't lying on his lungs like it used to, before. It was just connecting his broken beyond repair ribcage and protecting his heart, like it had always done. It felt ... good to have it back. Even if he was experimenting on the Reactor itself for a certain project of his.

He was here with Rhody - god he hated the braces but he was just so glad Rhody could move again at all - in his War Machine armor, Vision and, surprisingly, one Peter Parker, AKA Spider-man. He had wanted to protest, but the UN stated that Spider-man now represented the Accords, especially their new feature that protected the identity of any and all Avengers who wish it so. Since Peter was still a minor and going to school, Tony had insisted on it and had ended up making a beauty out of it, even managing to get in a few protection clauses for superenhanced individuals, inhumans (don't ask how he learned about them, he won't answer) and even mutants, which had resulted in a surprise visit from one Charles Xavior and some of his X-men and students. Go figure Tony's life only became crazier with that, but he was glad when they all signed the Accords under aliases but promised to do their best to protect the world when the need arises.

The four of them were the only ones here, expected to 'welcome' Steve Rodgers, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, Sam Wilson, Scott Lang (boy, was he going to be in the dog house when Pym and his daughter get their hands on him. Tony feels no pity for him at all and is glad to have finally reached an understanding with Hank Pym and Hope van Dame after all these years of useless, pointless rivalry that Howard had started), Wanda Maximoff (she could drop dead, for all he cares), Bucky Barnes (wasn't he supposed to be in some sort of cryptostasis? Was he even _safe_ to be let out? Tony rather doubted it and his hand itched to tap the Arc Reactor on his chest and just blast them all to hell but he's too _tired_ to deal with the fallout that will follow), all of them accompanied by none other than King T'Challa, the Black Panter and ruler of Wakanda himself. Thor and Bruce are supposedly scheduled to arrive tomorrow and then there was going to be a big 'reunion' and meeting. He was, once again, required to attend and just the thought of the bullshit that he'll have to listen to makes him want to grimace.

But he won't allow the approaching group the satisfaction. Rodgers and T'Challa were already striding purposefully towards where he stood between Vision on one side and Rhody on the other, Peter hanging upside down from one of the parked jets and flicking his eyes between his pseudo mentor and the other half of the Avengers. They were a bit outnumbered, if a fight should break out, but Tony had, as always, come prepared. Beside the experimental suit he has on hand, he had repaired the Iron Legion and gad left them in FRIDAY's more than capable hands. They'll have support if they need it and the whole thing was being broadcasted to the UN Council, so should the rouges do anything, Tony will have a legitimate reason to leave them all back in the RAFT. He agrees Secretary Ross had been way out of line, but things were different now. The RAFT is apparently just where they belong, if they dare do something here and now. And not even T'Challa's political immunity will protect him from being thrown in there, not this time.

"Stark," T'Challa greets with a terse nod, eying the most dangerous man on the planet as though he were a bomb ready to set off. Tony appreciated that wariness. T'Challa had seen him stand up to not one, but _two_ supersoldiers and he had seen Tony holding back. Tony hadn't wanted them dead. He just wanted to hurt them a little. He even actually wanted to hurt Rodgers a lot _more_ than he had wanted to hurt Barns. A few punches would have satisfied him, as he knew from experience that revenge won't make him feel better, won't get the lost ones back. Yinsen, Gulmira, his parents ... It didn't matter who. But he had felt angry, vulnerable and betrayed and so he had lashed out. Had Rodgers not turned it into a two on one, he would have left Barns off after just a few punches. No weapons, no nothing. He continued fighting because Rodgers had pissed him off further with his fake platitudes and lies and hypocritical statements.

Well, he won't take that shit from them anymore.

"Your majesty," he greets back, glad that they had been wise enough to stop a dozen meters in front of him. Far away that they're not too close, but close enough not to need to yell to be heard. "Rodgers."

"Tony." It grates on his nerves the way Rodgers has the cheek to dare to address him as though they were still friends. They aren't. They _never_ were. He hadn't realized that until Ultron but he had chose to ignore it until the Accords, when it became glaringly obvious and undeniable.

Tony cut him off right at the knees, not giving him any time for any of his self-righteous crap. "I believe you're all familiar with the Compound grounds. Feel free to move about as you wish, except in the east wing, which is completely out of the question for you to go in. Try it and you will find that security will be more than eager to throw you out. It's completely off limits for you, as that there are my private labs that I still haven't fully cleared out. You will have access to everything, it is but a phone call away. Your things have not been disturbed but your rooms have been recently tended to. If anything is missing, please address your concerns with Mrs Cooper. She's in charge of the estate. Don't make a mess, don't break anything, don't steal anything, don't damage anything, don't try to go into areas you find you have no clearance for, don't call me, don't bother FRIDAY, read and sign the Accords and hopefully, we won't be seeing much of each other any time soon. Now, if that will be all-"

"Wait, what do you mean the labs you still haven't cleared out? And what do you mean by 'clearance'? This is our home, Tony." Steve says, taking a step closer but thinking better about it when Rhodes' shoulder cannon turns in his direction. "We should be able to move about how we please." He tries to reason, earning himself a snort through War Machine's sound filters and an arched eyebrow from the business man.

"And you are. Only, you seem to be misinterpreting a few things here, Mr Rodgers. The Avengers Compound is one hundred percent Stark property, bought, built and maintained by _me_ and as such, I have say of what does and doesn't go on in here. As such, I have a right to forbid you from going into certain areas, such as the east wing unless I give you clearance, which I won't, and I have a right to ask you to leave the premises if you decide to try and break any of the ground rules. Other than making my life difficult or breaking the Accords, I don't give a damn about what you do. You'll have a liaison and you better hope he or she are good because, knowing you, you'll need a _lot_ of consulting and help. I wish you the best of lu-"

"God! You are such a brat, Stark!" Barton snapped, stomping up to where T'Challa was smart enough to restrain him before he comes to close to the billionaire. "Things don't go your way and suddenly you're taking all of your toys away, is that it? You're supposed to be a grown man, not some child throwing a tantrum."

Tony just shrugged, unaffected. "Your opinion of me matters very little, both to myself and to the rules that have been set. Break them and you'll face the consequences. You can't hide behind the great big kitty cat forever. Even kittens have to leave the nest at one point. You'll be on your own then and you better watch your step."

"Is that a threat?" Wanda snarls, hands glowing red and Tony feels Vision stepping closer to him. He wishes it didn't have to be this way, for the android's sake. Vision had loved Wanda, but what she had become had left the android shaken. Scared she might have been, yes, but she had not been overly concerned with the damage she had been causing. Vision now didn't know what to think of her, or of himself for still liking her to an extent. Tony wishes he could help, could reach out to him and try to comfort him but he didn't know how. Most days since the airport fight, Vision had stuck close to him. It must have been some sort of his own coping mechanism, so Tony had allowed it, and it hurt to hear the uncertainty in what had been JARVIS's voice. Vision did his best to hide it, but Tony knew every frequency that voice could hit better than Vision himself could.

It pulled at his heart strings that Vision was reverting to something a young JARVIS used to do, keeling Tony always in sight for need of reassurance. That had later developed into fondness and protectiveness on JARVIS's part, but that didn't seem to be the case for Vision. Viz was only still a kid, no matter how much he didn't look like it. People tend to forget that a little too often for Tony's liking.

"It's a fact and an advice. One wrong move and you'll find yourself in RAFT again."

"That _was_ a threat." The temperamental Witch snarled, more power seeping into her hands but she didn't attack. Yet.

"You didn't answer Steve's first question, Tony," Natasha, ever observant, ever the spy, caught on and came to stand on Rodger's other side, eyes raking over Tony and trying to find any weaknesses. Her eyes stayed on his Arc Reactor and Tony enjoyed the confused frown that followed it but ignored the pointed look she gave him. As though he would tell her when or why he had it reimplanted in his chest. "Why would your labs be cleared out?"

"Because I don't live there anymore. Haven't for weeks, now, and I can't leave all my tech in such incapable, untrusting hands. That would be like giving a Jericho to the Ten Rings or something and I tend to _take back_ from, not give away my weapons to terrorists."

"We're not terrorists, Tony," Sam says with an amused huff, as though he thought Tony was kidding. He just gave him a flat stare.

"Tell that to the people you hurt or killed during the 'Civil War' and then you can say it to my face again."

"We didn't do anything wrong, Stark." Lang pipes in and the engineer just rolls his eyes.

"You are already in a boat load of trouble when Hank and Hope get their hands on you for stealing the suit." He groans at the gapping expression Lang shots his way. "What? Did you seriously think Pym will be _swell_ with all of this?" He waves a hand between the two sides to indicate the fight that had already once happened. "I don't think so. In fact, he tore me a new one for _not_ bringing you in, taking the suit and leaving you to rot in RAFT. Be grateful that Miss van Dame seems to think you didn't have any idea what you were getting into - I agree, now that we're talking face to face; you seem like a star-eyed idiot - and that you are relatively harmless. My advice to you? Save your breath so you can grovel at her feet later when you _don't_ end up being declared a national enemy. Although whether you get the Ant-Man suit ever again is up to Hank. Somehow I don't think you'll be _shrinking_ the responsibility and consequences any time soon."

"So that's your angle, Tony? Divide and conquer? I thought you'd think up something a bit more original."

"Not that this is that, but yes, ancient tactics are always the best ones, Romanoff." He shoots back immediately. "They had lesser technology but not lesser intellect. You could learn something from them. Maybe starting with the definition of _loyalty_."

"You're the one who knows nothing about loyalty, Stark!" Clint jumps in, defending his partner. Tony just sighs and shakes his head.

"This is tiring. You guys are simply not worth the headache." He hold up a palm when they start to protest and was surprised when they actually shut up for a second. "There will be a meeting in two days. Make a list and complain about it then. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have better things to do than waste my breath on people who won't listen."

He starts to turn around so he can walk away, ignoring Rodgers' "Not so fast, Tony! We haven't finished this conversation!" when there was a strange sound, something between cracking glass and crackling of electricity and he whips around to see what is going on, only for something red to barge into him, knocking him over, followed by an explosion of sorts, two arguing voices and the confused yelling of his team and the rouges.

Then all hell breaks loose and their lives are turned upside down.


	2. Chapter 2

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

Tony yelps when the red thing that had barreled into him suddenly starts dragging him away, further from the commotion that he can't see due to said red thing and away from his friends. He tries not to panic but it's very hard. The only thing stopping him from activating his suit was the fact that the red cloth was not smothering him and seemed to be relatively gentle as it took him out of harm's way.

"Spider-man, go after Tony!" He heard Rhody order but it was then that the red cloth thing stopped dragging him away and instead unwound from around him and stood in front of him like a wall. When he finally got a good look at it, he saw that it was a deep red cape/cloak thingamabob _without_ a set of shoulders to rest on, just ... floating there in front of him as if for protection. Tony found it sad that magically floating clothing no longer surprised or shocked him and instead he craned his neck to see around it.

The sight that met his eyes was even more bizarre and actually a bit surprising.

There were two oddly dressed men standing right in the middle ground of where there had been a gap between the two superhero teams, facing off as though in some western movie. Or, more appropriately, in some Chinese martial arts movie, what with the poses they had half taken up. Half casual, half ready to spring into action at the slightest hint of hostile movement. One man was dressed in some strange green robes, weird boots and had a weird short staff in his hand, skin almost as dark as Rhody's or Sam's with a hood over his head. There was a distinctively malicious, hostile, almost crazed air around him and Tony was willing to bet he was some sort of bad guy, which, in turn, would make the other guy the good guy. He hoped, at least. The last thing he needs right now is two bad guys facing off in his private airport and wrecking a dozen or so jets. Pepper will have his head if they have to replace _her_ favorite plane that offers massages during business flights, a Jacuzzi and an actual bed and work desk.

He'd rather go through New York, Sokovia and Siberia all at once than face her wrath after that.

When he looked at the other guy, Tony was struck with a strange feeling of deja vu. The man looked somewhat familiar, like he'd seen his face before, although he couldn't remember from where. He was dressed in similarly styled robes like the other man, only his were blue and looked better cared for. A perfectionist, Tony's brain suggested. That or a obsessive-compulsive person, at least to some degree. He was pale skinned with dark hair except for a few slicked-back strands that were practically silver and he had a goatee that was almost a perfect replica of Tony's own. Definitely a perfectionist, then. Tony should know. He trims his own goatee himself just to make sure it's _just right_. The blue man wears no hood or weird boots, although he _does_ look like he had just stepped out of some hippie Budist shrine or something.

Tony finds his eyes drawn to the strange necklace he wears, though. He can't make out the details of it but something _calls_ to him when he sees it and he can't understand why. He's never seen anything remotely resembling it in his life before and yet he finds himself thinking ' It's important'. It looked sort of like an eye made of some strange almost gold-colored material.

For some reason, he thinks the red cloak is with this guy.

The tension is so thick in the air that you could cut it with Cap's shield - if it had still been in that form, that is. No one made a move, no one uttered a sound but no one relaxed, either. Tony soon found Spider-man assisting him to his feet with the cloak doing some faceless gesture like it was looking over its shoulder at them suspiciously. Well, at _Peter_ to be precise. The teenage was pressed close to Tony, tense, unsure of what to do and seeking guidance, not comfort, from his hero and mentor. Rhody had his weapons fired up, aiming at the rouges his shoulder cannon while one repulsor each was reserved for the two strangers, just as baffled as to what to do as Peter was. Vision was tense, looking ready to blast them with the Mind Stone in his forehead at any minute. The rouges were all in much the same state, Natasha pointing her guns at the blue man with Clint pointing two nocked arrows at the green one. Helpless without the red wings Tony had called back, Wilson had to rely on guns, just like Barns, who looked half way into Winter Soldier mode, confirming Tony's fears that he shouldn't have been let out of whatever stasis they had placed him in. Scott had a hand on the belt of his suit, unsure as to what to do just yet while Wanda and Steve had moved as if the cover each other's and T'Challa's back, but the King didn't seem nearly as interested in returning the favor as they were.

The two men were just staring at each other, as if any sort of movement might somehow bright about the end of this ... whatever this was. Tense moments ticked by and Stark wondered just what the hell was going on and if he should interfere - since no one seemed to be keen on doing anything at all - when, finally, the blue dressed man spoke.

"It doesn't have to be like this, Mordo." He told the other man in a deep, smooth, pleasant voice, his tone speaking of a well masked desperation of a man trying to appeal to a dear person. "If you don't wish to return to the Order, at least just _walk away_. Don't do _this_. Don't punish the Ancient One by turning into _him_."

"_He_ was a student, just like anyone else was." The green dressed man, Mordo, said with a calm sort of sneer. "There could be dozens of those like him, all over the world. All those whom she had taught could become just as corrupted without their training complete."

"With each one that you seal the powers of, there is a new person left for dead until someone finds them and helps them." That drew Tony's attention, as it did everyone else's, to the still unnamed man. "You have _killed_ three people already by extracting their powers. How many more will have to fall to the same fate until you are satisfied, Mordo? How many more!?" There are a few twitches at the sudden raised tone but thankfully still no battle or gunfire.

"Until there are none left but the ones who use their powers for the right reasons, Stephen." Mordo replies with an almost deranged, peaceful looking smile. "This power we gave them was not meant to be used for selfish purposes. It was meant for protecting the multiverse. And every person who uses it for anything else will be relieved of their power."

"The Ancient One gave them all a choice." The blue stranger, Stephen, replied between grit teeth.

"A foolish choice." Mordo says immediately. "There are too many who use this power on this world, Stephen. Those who use it for the _right_ reasons will be stronger once there are not so many draining the reserves of energy for selfish reasons. And everything will once again be in balance."

"That's not up for you to decide," the other answered heatedly. "Stop this foolishness now, or I will be forced to stop you."

Mordo snorted, grip tightening on the staff like thing he was holding. "You might have become a Master of the Mystic Arts and the Sorcerer Supreme extremely young, but I had a hand in your training. I know what you can do and what to expect." Parts of the staff glowed and suddenly, the thing grew longer. "You are no match for me, Stephen. Just let me do my job. It's _your_ fault that the balance has been disturbed by playing around with the Eye of Agamotto. You should just step aside and let me clean up your mess."

"You know I can't do that." The so called Sorcerer Supreme says, a mixture of sadness and determination. "Your target is a civilian in every sense of the word. He's unarmed and means you no harm. If you do this, if you attack him, you will be breaking numerous rules, the first coming to mind our oath to protect Earth and its people and the rule about keeping to the shadows."

"I think that the time for that has long since come to pass, Stephen. Now please," the staff suddenly becomes almost fluid in movement, like a whip in the dark skinned man's hand. It's glowing with some orangish light, as if through seams, as it grows and snaps just like a whip when Mordo threateningly demonstrates it, almost in challenge. "Move out of the way."

"I'm afraid you will have to go through me first." With that, Mordo lunges for an attack that Stephen repels with two glowing golden energy shields that come seemingly out of nowhere, appearing in front of each fist. Mordo attacks again and is this time met by an energy whip the same glowing gold color as the shields, crackling with energy as the two weapons collide, wrapping around each other. When Mord goes to tug at it, Stephen releases it and lets the other man stumble backwards while he makes some strange hand movements and a freaking _portal_ opens right then and there, some purplish lighting striking out of at and at the green dressed man, who repels the blast with a big energy shield he makes out of thin air with a few hand gestures himself. The lightning bounces off of the shield loudly, Tony realizing too late that it was heading for him, the cloak and Peter but a golden energy wraps around it and directs it back at Mordo again. Another portal opens and the dangerous lightning is gone.

Mordo retaliates by slamming into the ground with some of the strange energy glowing like bracelets around his wrist and forearm, causing something a lot like an earthquake, knocking most of the Avengers down to the ground, but not Stephen, who sends a wave of his own energy back, knocking Mordo a few more steps back. Stephen makes a few more hand gestures and there's again the sound of glass cracking as something shimmering is directed at Mordo, who only jumps and _starts hoping on air_ as his boots start glowing. He shortens his pole so it's the length of a sword and meets Stephen's newly formed energy saber head on, orange and gold sparks flying where the two weapons meet.

"You've improved," Mordo says with effort as they push against each other. "To be expected. You always showed an obvious talent for the Mystic Arts. With the former Sorcerer Supreme gone and you being her last and most gifted student, the Masters must have been running over themselves to teach you everything they know so they can saddle you with her hypocritical title." They parried each other a few times, easily reading each other's movements, as though they were old sparring partners. Which, judging by Mordo's words, they might as well have been, at one point in time. "Why else would they have let you take the Eye of Agamotto?"

"Because they knew it was no longer safe in Kamar-Taj with you loose and set on revenge." Stephen replied easily, pushing Mordo back with a wave of raw energy that was felt even where Tony and Peter were behind the cloak. "Because they knew I was the only one who could properly protect it since only I know how to use it."

"So you've read the Ancient One's private collection? Unsurprising. Wong must be kissing your feet like the rest of them." Mordo taunted, recovering from the blast and hoping up into the air with his boots.

"You really don't know Wong very well if you think like that." The blue dressed ... whatever he was said in return as he gestured towards the cloak something that might have been a 'stay put' order or something, because the floating cloak seemed to be indecisive of its position of guarding Tony and Peter and going to the other man's aid. It still hesitated before returning fully to guarding Tony and Peter, but the silent communication had drawn Mordo's attention to Spider-man and Iron Man and he turned his eyes to them. The cloak suddenly snatched them both up and carried them away with impressive speed and strength before some sort of flaming orange energy ball could hit them. They found themselves pressed to the wall of the control tower, staring in horror at the small crater left in the wake of the destructive energy.

Mordo was dodging a much bigger version of the attack in the air from Stephen just a second later. Vision and Rhody had, thankfully, scrambled away in time not to be hit by whatever that attack was and were now somehow behind the blue dressed man as he disappeared in a portal and reappeared in front of the cloak and two brunets. "What do you even want from him?! He's not a partitioner or a student of the Mystic Arts!"

"Because he's been touched by three Stones already, Stephen!" The dark skinned man snapped, lashing out with some huge ... energy attack that Stephen had to reflect with that same cracking glass sound following a murky wave of ... something that at least effectively stopped the attack. The barrier or whatever it was, it wasn't in the least affected by the attack, not even a whips of energy making it past the shimmering thing, much to Mordo's frustration. "No single mortal is meant to be touched by so many! And now you brought another one into the equation! The rest will resonate and _call_ to him! The balance of the universe is at stake and yet you choose to be blind to it!"

"The balance is just fine," the so called Sorcerer Supreme shot back as he conjured another ... something that sent Mordo flying. Tony didn't know, but it was impressive and it had singed the green dressed man's orbs and knocked over his hood, for the first time showing his whole bald head.

"Then you are a fool if you can't feel the power in him." The black man snarled and sent another attack at them, which Stephen seemingly effortlessly deflected. As soon as the attack was dealt with, Stephen made a few hand gestures, moving his arms around as well until he grew a dozen more pair of arms, much to Tony's and Peter's gawking shock, before a dozen other Stephen's sprung from him on either side, just as solid and just as real, distracting Mordo enough for Stephen to turn around and open a portal right behind Tony, hidden from view by the cloak for anyone but Stephen, Tony and Peter.

"Mr Stark, please step through."

"What!? You've got to be kidding me! I'm not going through a random, damn portal!" Tony was absolutely _not_. He still had hideous nightmares from New York. It haunted his dreams each night for five or so years now, almost six. Tony was not about to just step through some god damned portal on some stranger's insistence! "No way!"

"You have my word that I mean you no harm." Stephen reassured in a soothing voice. "I am here to protect you."

"I can protect myself," Stark barked angrily, more than a little offended by the implication that he couldn't take care of himself.

"Not against this," was all the man said before he stepped forward and pushed Tony through without another word. Tony found himself himself yelping as he fell through, experiencing much the same dizzying, disorienting sensation as when he'd passed through the portal made by the Tesseract, if only a lot gentler and shorter, almost comfortable, _almost_ to the point that Tony didn't have the time to panic at all. And when he was through, he didn't find himself in the empty, soundless vastness of space, but rather lying on a comfortable bed that nearly matched his own in softness. And it was definitely not silent since he could clearly hear a feminine scream somewhere left to his current position and he jerked up, a repulsor already forming around his hand as he pointed it at-

A terrified, shocked woman in doctor scrubs and a black coat?

"Jesus! Jesus _fucking_ Christ!" The unknown woman swore, a hand over her heart, as though she feared it might just jump out of her chest and run off. Not that Tony blamed her. He felt much the same way. "I'm going to kill Stephen one of these days! I _told_ him to stop _doing_ that!" Then she looked at who had appeared in the bed and her eyes went wide as saucers. "Tony Stark?"

"Uh, yeah?" Tony answered uneasily, slowly lowering his hand. She was obviously no threat to him and she knew that strange Stephen guy who claimed he wanted to protect him for some strange reason.

"I'm going to _kill_ him! He _knows_ I'm staying here today and he goes and kidnaps _Tony Stark_! I don't want to go to prison because of his magic cult club! I'm not in on it!" The woman was pacing back and forth, working herself into an agitated state that had Tony worrying for her blood pressure like he used to for Pepper when he did something that set her off. She still got like this sometimes and it hurt him knowing only he can get her in that state. They may no longer be a couple, but there was over a decade of solid friendship between them and Tony and Pepper both refused to ruin that with anything. Their break up was already old news by now, especially since they always appeared to be friendly. There was nothing to make a scandal, no fights, no arguments, no slights or trying to destroy each other's career. She was still his CEO and he was still the owner, head of R&D and the face of the company. They worked. This woman, right now, though, reminded Tony of Pepper after she found out just _what the hell_ happened in Siberia and why he was suddenly reinstalling the Arc Reactor in his chest. She couldn't return to worrying about him as a lover, because she was sure _her_ heart will fail her one day, but she could always rage as a best friend.

He wondered if this was something similar. He wasn't the best people person, but he thought it was something similar.

"Um, it's okay, Miss ... "

"Palmer. Doctor Christine Palmer." The woman, Christine, answered with a sigh, running a hand over her tired eyes. "I just wanted to rest. He said I could come to the flat whenever but I guess he decided to drop a bomb on me. No offense, Doctor Stark."

"None taken," he replied easily, although he was intrigued. Rarely anyone called him Doctor, despite the many diplomas in various fields he had. He'd actually added a few more since the last social elite party that he'd been to. He's an engineer, probably the best in the world, as his many inventions might suggest, but he would never had been able to make any of the things he's been making over the years without doing some adequate study in each of the fields in _any_ way connected to his current project. Thus the diplomas kind of piled up and Tony stopped counting them when they reached double digits. Pepper counts them, as they're good for publicity and all that crap. That still doesn't mean other people call him Doctor, mostly because people assume that only medical doctors deserved the title. He'd gotten so used to simply being 'Mr Stark' that he forgot most of the time that respectable, non-jealous fellow scientists some times referred to him as '_Dr_ Stark'. "I take it you know the strange wizard guy?"

For some reason, Palmer snorts in amusement and rolls her eyes in a long-suffering but fond way. Tony, for a moment, wonders if they'd ever met and been somewhat friends in the past, because that is usually the reaction people had when dealing with _him_ for extended period of time. "Yeah, you could say that. Sorry if he kidnapped you. I'll have a conversation with him about proper manners. Again. Not sure it will stick, though. He's kind of an ass."

"A man after my own heart." He jokes as he sits and then gets up, grateful for having ended up in the bed instead of on the hard floor. No need to jar his still healing wounds. Rodgers had done a number on him and although it's been months, some of his injuries were still healing. Like his goddamn broken beyond repair chest cavity. He wasn't sure even Extremis could heal it, should he decide to risk further exposure to it. "Don't worry about it, he didn't do anything that might require a lawsuit. Yet. He kind of stayed behind. Gotta see what sort of property damage he might have caused with his ... wizard-y stuff."

"Oh god," was all the woman could say before yelping as, suddenly, Tony stood in front of her in the full Iron Man armor, seemingly out of no where. "Oh my god. You're not a sorcerer too, right?"

"Only a tech wiz," he replies playfully before giving her a wave as he opened the big windows. "Nice to meet you, Doc. Ever need anything, just call and say you know me and the wizard. Just so I know who's looking for me, 'kay?" She nodded, dumbstruck as he left a card on the bed. "Ciao."

And with that, Iron Man flew away, leaving a flabbergasted Christine Palmer behind, wondering if that was that Stephen guy's girlfriend and just what the hell was actually going on.


	3. Chapter 3

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

"I take it you were not successful?" Wong asked when he saw Stephen walk out of a portal with a rather pissed look on his face, the Cloak of Levitation looking none too pleased, either. Wong was already preparing for the fallout of a sorcerer attacking a public and famous figure like Tony Stark when Strange grumbled under his breath. "What was that?"

"Mordo escaped but Stark is just fine. Or at least he _was_ until he decided to run off from where I slung him to get him out of Mordo's hands." The Sorcerer Supreme looked to be on the verge of sulking, much to Wong's amusement. "Worse yet, I got an earful from Christine about killing genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropists and dropping them in her lap. I forgot she was using my flat these days."

That had the other sorcerer glaring at him as he put down the books he had brought from Kamar-Taj. "And _why_ haven't you brought him _here_?"

"Because this would be the first place Mordo would look for him. My flat is not as well known as one might think, for a famous neurosurgeon." The younger of the two grumbled again, stalking off in the direction of a huge cup-like thing that was actually the Cauldron of the Cosmos. "Christine confirmed he was fine and that he won't be pressing charges-"

"That's what has you worried?" Wong interrupts incredulously and gets this _look_ from Stephen that he can't quite decipher. He doesn't appreciate it.

"And that he flew off," Stephen continued as though he had not been interrupted at all. "A few minutes later. Now I have no idea where he is and I don't think it's a good idea to return to the Avengers Compound to check if he went over there, yet. I thought I might check here and then observe him with my astral form, try to see why Mordo's so set on 'dealing' with him."

Wong falls to his side as he activates the Cauldron and starts searching for the same, strange signature that had at first drawn their attention to Tony Stark in the first place. That was the only reason they could catch up to Mordo before he attacked Stark. "Mordo has lost his way, after what happened with the Ancient One. She had long since feared something like that might happen. He took to the teachings too harshly, too desperately. She had considered turning him away, but he had seemed to adapt and she had let him stay. Now, we must deal with the fallout ourselves."

"He's already sealed the magic of two dozen people, leaving them cripples." Strange grit his teeth. "We draw our power from infinite dimensions. There is enough energy in each and every one of them for all those who have studied here and who might come one day to study here. He had no right." He set the 'display' on the Cauldron to show only New York, doubting even Iron Man could go that far in the short time it took him to finish the battle with Mordo once Stark had disappeared. Mordo was not interested in anyone else and had left with the first opportunity he got and Stephen had decided to follow his lead lest he have to deal with the Avengers. "Besides, this is all Stark's personal energy. He's not drawing any power from any of the dimensions." He sighs in relief when he pinpoints the exact magic/energy signature he had been searching for ... At Stark Tower. That was probably the safest place for him right now. He'll check in on him personally in a few. "He has the potential of becoming a powerful sorcerer, yes, but I doubt a man so devoted to science will accept an offer to learn."

Not when he has no reason to, like Stephen had. He did his best to ignore the trembling of his hands.

"That, however, does not explain Mordo's sudden interest." The Asian man points out, also looking at the strange signature that is Tony Stark. It shone like a beacon. Compared to all the other people's inner energy that would allow them to channel magic should they decide to learn, Stark's shone like Polaris in a starless night, ever present and ever there. Wong wondered if it had always been like this and, if so, why the Ancient One had not approached the man. He already defended the physical world, so why not the metaphysical as well? "He isn't going after other potential partitioners. Just Stark."

"He said something interesting about that, actually," the once neurosurgeon said with a weary sigh as he drew back his magic and let the Cauldron of Cosmos fall dormant again. "Something about Stark already being touched by three of the Stones?"

"You think he means the Infinity Stones," it wasn't a question. It was a statement, one Wong enforced by looking down at the Eye of Agamotto where it rested against Stephen's chest, protecting the green, ever shinning Time Stone within. They have both sworn blood oaths that they will protect it with their lives, as have every other Master of the Mystical Arts, but it was decided that the Stone was best off in the care of the Sorcerer Supreme. Young he may be, but he was gifted like no other before him where magic was concerned.

"More than probably," Stephen agrees. "You already told me once that the Ancient One had considered him for the position of Stonekeeper and Sorcerer Supreme and had been readying to prepare him for it before I came along. He probably knows as much about them as I do. If not more." He only had what was written as a source of knowledge but Mordo had learned from the Ancient One herself.

"It would make sense." Wong mused as they climbed the stairs towards the big library they had in the Sanctum in New York. They did most of their studying and research in there and this promised to be a _long_ session. Especially if Strange was going to check in on Iron Man in his astral form. It was probably for the best that he does. Who knows when Mordo will try again. "The portal above New York was definitely not made the same way our portals are. It had a similar signature to the Time Stone, so that must be the Space Stone. And the Mind Stone is in one of his teammates, that Vision guy."

"But what about the third one he mentioned?" The blue dressed sorcerer asked as he entered the library with a dramatic sweep of the Cloak of Levitation that had Stephen cracking a fond smile. He had such weird friends these days. Not that he'd ever change them. He was just sorrowful that Mordo had stopped being one of them. "The only other Stones that I know of making an appearance on Earth was the Reality Stone within the Aether, but that thing was released on London."

"Stark's a busy man. We don't know whether he'd been there at the time or not. If I remember correctly, not all of his suits of armor can come to him on their own." Wong was, of course, referring to the fact that Iron Man had _not_ been reported at the scene. Nor had anyone said anything about Tony Stark being in England. Though that could be because the news were overflooding with the Aether thing and didn't much focus on Stark. Or maybe it had been a private visit or something? There were too many variables for them to deduce what the correct answer might be.

"And the cleanup effort?"

"Stark always paid for it, no matter what Avenger made a mess."

Go figure. Even if he _had_ been there or if he hadn't, the cleanup effort wouldn't tell them much. "So we have no clue whether Mordo was referring to the Reality Stone or the Time Stone."

"It had to be the Reality Stone since the Time Stone never left Kamar-Taj until you came along." Stephen paused mid step to look at Wong over his shoulder, wondering if that was an accusation or just stating a fact.

"Okay, now we know which stones we're likely talking about but what does that have to do with Mordo wanting to steal whatever power Stark has within him?" Wong frowned in thought before shaking his head.

"Ir probably has less to do with which Stones and more to do with their _numbers_." The older man guessed. "I've never heard of someone encountering so many before."

"Yes, he did actually say something about that as well. Something about how no mortal should ever be touched by so many stones and that the other's will resonate or call for him or something like that. I didn't really understand him. He was spewing too much nonsense about disturbed balance to make much sense." The Doctor said with a frown. "But whatever it is, we should be prepared for it." He folds his legs under him and lets the Cloak levitate him in the air without a second though, making to form the necessary hand gestures that would open the Eye of Agamotto and reveal the Time Stone within when Wong all but lunged for him, stopping him in his tracks. The Cloak gave a warning shimmer to the other sorcerer, which Wong heeded only enough to step out of Stephen's direct personal space. The Cloak was a fickle thing regarding anyone but its chosen master and magical partner. Wong knew better than to agitate an ancient relic as sentient as the Cloak of Levitation.

That did not mean that he will back down in front of it when he had something to say. "What do you think you're doing? No." He interrupted before Stephen could open his mouth to respond. "No. You are _not_ going to use the Time Stone to do _anything_. We are supposed to protect the multiverse and its balance, not endanger it by playing around with that Stone."

"We need to know what's going on, Wong." Strange countered just as easily. "Something, something bigger than _this_," he gestured vaguely around the Sanctum. "Is at stake here. Something that leaves a bad taste in my mouth and it's been there ever since I touched Stark. What if he does something with the Stones? What if something _else_ comes for them? We _need_ to _know_."

"Messing with the future is never a smart idea, Stephen."

"Which is why I won't go to the future, or even view it as a whole. I'll just take a glimpse, search for a connection between Tony Stark and the Infinity Stones." Wong looked no less unpleased than he had a moment before. "What if it's something terrible? Something terrible that we can _prevent_? Our job is to protect the multiverse. Is this not protecting it as well?"

"I am not as inflexible towards the rules as Mordo is," Wong replied with a sigh and a shake of his head. "I understand the intention behind your suggestion. But more often than not, trying to _prevent_ a certain thing from happening usually leads to exactly _that_ thing happening. And even if you _do_ prevent it, it may just lead to something worse. And if it _doesn't_," Wong shot him a long, scrutinizing look. "Men easily fall for power. It has been the downfall of many. What says you won't be seduced by the power to potentially change fate and use it all the time? You could very easily rip apart the very fabric of time, Stephen. How am I supposed to let you do anything with that Stone while I _know_ how easily it may corrupt you?"

Stephen stayed silent for a long moment before looking Wong directly in the eyes. "I guess you'll just have to trust me, Wong."

"That's a high order in this situation." They shared a wry smile that was answer enough for the both of them. Wong sighed and paced around the room for a few minutes, mulling it over while Stephen just watched him. Wong knew Stephen was probably right. _Probably_. There could be something far worse going on here that Mordo was trying to deal with on his own and it somehow revolved around none other than Tony Stark and the Infinity Stones. Stark was a reckless man. He could have easily - accidentally or purposefully, it didn't matter - gotten into some sort of trouble while messing with the Infinity Stone at his disposal. Or something or some_one_ might be coming for the Stones and Stark was in some other way involved, either fighting or assisting the foreign entity that might want them. Or maybe he wants them all for himself so he can do ... whatever real evil geniuses do with infinite power. And this would be their only warning. No matter how risky _this_ was, letting the Time Stone fall into anyone's hands besides the ones who swore to protect it was far worse. The Asian man sighed tiredly and nodded at Stephen. "Fine. I'll trust you know what you're doing, but take only glimpses. Knowing the future is a dangerous thing. We don't need Mordo coming after your ass, too, if he somehow finds out you're messing with that thing."

"Got it." Stephen said with a small smile at his friend for showing him such trust and faith. What he was asking for was a tall order any day, let alone now, when another friend was mercilessly sealing other people's powers and hunting down famous superheroes and an unknown threat regarding the Time Stone and said famous superhero were somehow dragged into what used to be a simple mess. Now it was all beyond tangled and Strange didn't know what to make of it all. Hopefully, this will help, as dangerous as it was. "Wish me luck."

"Just don't screw time over," was all Wong said and Stephen snorted before closing his eyes and concentrating, doing the necessary hand gestures to open the Eye of Agamotto and let the Time Stone's green light wash over them both and the library at large. He connected his mind to the Time Stone and let it take the lead after he implanted a suggestion of what he would like to see, just like he had read in the Book of Cagliostro. It was surprisingly easy to do, despite it all being considered a higher, more complicated form of magic. He guessed he just had a knack for it.

The images came soon enough, the Time Stone answering to his call. He was surprised to find himself in the relatively close future, if the looks of him, Wong and Stark are anything to go by. They were standing in a street not far away from the Sanctum, facing off two alien looking figures that didn't seem friendly at all with a stranger on their own side. He saw a glimpse of the other five Infinity Stones floating in front of a serious looking Tony as the stranger desperately told him something, _pleading_ with him. He saw him and Stark and some teenage boy standing in front of a strange window of sorts, deep outer space just beyond the glass, millions of stars, consolations and galaxies making them look dramatic and ethereal. Then they were on some strange plane that Stephen could not recognize but would guess to be another planet, the teenage boy and a group of four others thrown about like discarded toys, half conscious. Stephen himself was down and panting hard. Only Stark was still fighting, taking on a purple giant with a ferocity most of the universe would envy him for.

A drop of dark blood.

A sword going through Stark.

A golden gauntlet patting the man's head gently, as though in reassurance before the light of four Infinity Stones was directed at the injured man.

_"Stop."_ Stephen was surprised to hear his own voice call out. _"Spare his life and I will give you the Stone."_

_"No tricks, wizard."_ An unfamiliar voice that sounded neither threatening nor mad sent shivers down his spine regardless and he watched, confused, as he summoned the stone and gave it to the giant, ignoring Stark's strangled _"Don't"_.

_"Why did you do that?"_ The billionaire asks when the giant is gone.

_"We're in the endgame, now."_

_"Tony,"_ he find himself calling to the man some time later, as he feels himself slipping away to turn into dust. _"There was no other way."_

A world of orange light and orange skies with an orange sun and orange clouds and water. People, all around him. Confused. Helpless. Resigned. Millions, billions, _trillions_ of people, all around him, none there by choice. _Half of the universe_, something whispers in his mind. The Cloak is not with him. Perhaps it could no follow here.

He backtracks, panicked. He goes back, goes back to the planet his mind calls Titan. Back to before the fight. He's sitting there, meditating while connected to the Time Stone, watching the futures. He can see them now as well, all fourteen million six hundred and five of them. Every future, every possibility, every option. Every death he or any of the other people on that planet will go through. Every ending of every scenario as they fight, _desperately_, the Mad Titan. He saw fourteen million six hundred and five futures and in only one they won, at the cost of half of the universe. He explores that future and sees that only a _battle_ was lost and that the _war_ has only just begun. He sees people, places, occurrences that have never been, may or may not ever be and he sees one man.

One mortal man who made the Mad Titan bleed.

The _first_ to make him bleed.

He sees him snap his fingers and the balance is brought back, the lost _life_ is brought back.

Doctor Stephen Strange finds himself in the desperate hug of one Tony Stark, along with the teenager he had seen earlier and he feel peace.

The Sorcerer Supreme jerks back to his time and to his body, closing the Eye of Agamotto with a gasp as his eyes fly open. Wong and the Cloak of Levitation hold him stead as he tries to stand, legs wobbly. He knows Wong is saying something but all he can hear are two snaps of fingers with two completely different meanings and all he can see are tears of happiness and relief streaming down bruised, bloodied, gaunt tan cheeks. The hands on him don't feel quite right. Faces he's never seen before are missing from where they had been just a moment before.

"Stephen, for the Ancient One's sake, say something, damn it!" That finally drew his attention to Wong and he shook off the left over sensation of fourteen million six hundred and five futures off of him and out of his mind. Wong sighed in relief when Stephen found his footing, looking concernedly up at the taller male. "What happened? What did you see?"

"The end of the world kind of shit." Strange says as he rakes a hand through his hair. "Wong, prepare the Sanctum for private lessons in the Mystic Arts, tell the other Masters to find the strongest barriers they know or can find and to prepare them. We'll need to put them up in the near future, I fear."

"Stephen?" The Asian sorcerer frowned. "What's going on?"

"I need to find Stark. We need to protect him."

"Why?" Wong asked as Stephen sat down in a chair and prepared to enter the astral frame to go check on said billionaire.

"Because he's not the one in danger or the danger. He's the only one who can _stop_ it." Blue-green eyes met bewildered dark brown ones with a seriousness that froze Wong's blood in his veins.

"Wha-"

"He's the Endgame, Wong. He's the key to the universe."


	4. Chapter 4

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

Thor and Bruce arrived the next day as planned, a well as Loki and what was left of Asgard's people, on a space ship that had seen better days from the looks of it but was perfectly space worthy. It was shocking and worrying to hear that Asgard might as well be gone, Ragnarök having come to pass not long after Odin's death, when Hela, Thor's _older sister_, was released and the only way to defeat her was by releasing some horrible fire demon on the golden city and her, thus destroying the most powerful of the nine realms and leaving Earth practically unprotected.

Tony could already feel the nightmares coming, his stress reaching an all new time high that would probably leave any doctor catatonic witch shock if they learned he wasn't going to take any medication to deal with it. It would dull his mind and his senses and, right now, he could not afford to let that happen. He was surrounded mostly by people whom he could not trust and the meeting room was not by any means large enough to make him feel comfortable. They were practically within arm's reach of each other and it wasn't doing any favors to his stress levels. Two super spies, three super soldiers (if you count T'Challa), a witch and two men that have no love lost for him were within reaching distance of him, along with a god who had once tried to strangle him. Most of them were supposed to be his _friends_, his _teammates_, but all they were were hypocrites, killers and liars.

Who would have thought Loki had nailed such a bullseye that day at SHIELD. It was scary that a villain knee them better than they knew themselves.

The presence of Fury, Hill and the not-so-dead Agent Coulson were not helping his stress levels. FRIDAY had already pinged him a warning that his heart rate was too fast and he was sure Vision had sent him a few concerned glances. Peter stood as close to him as was humanly possible, fidgeting and unsure but unwilling to leave his side. He could probably hear his blood rushing with his enhanced hearing and was worried. Rhodey was a bit busy glaring at the rouges at the moment but he had been fussing over Tony since he got back from being portaled away by a strange wizard dude.

Usually, once upon a time, Bruce at least would have been a source of comfort. But Bruce, for all that he was the only one of the original Avengers that Tony still considered a somewhat friend, had lost the ability to affect Tony in a calming way after he had been as ready as everyone else to blame Ultron's awakening on Tony. As if _Tony_ had created him. Ultron had woken up on his own during a simple diagnostics test, no one pocking the bear, and he had killed JARVIS, one of Tony's _children_ before going on to try and kill the Avengers. The blame had fallen to Tony and he had accepted it, guilt at all the lost lives eating away at him. Even though he _knew_ he hadn't actually _created_ the murder bot, he felt guilty whenever he saw someone grieving a lost loved one that had been a result of Ultron's rampage. Which is why he had agreed to the Accords, with the intention of polishing the final product to his liking and so that everyone was happy, the heroes responsible and held accountable for their actions should they misuse their powers and yet protected by the Accords.

He never got the chance to do it. And when he had most needed his science bro? Bruce hadn't been there. Tony figured it was for the best to just keep a distance from Bruce. Even if Bruce hadn't been there to answer the call should Tony have thought to make it during the so called Civil War because he had accidentally ended up on some strange planet where the Hulk fought in a gladiator's arena, which Tony can't blame him for, he had blamed _Tony_ as much as the others for creating Ultron, even though he had had a hand in it as well. And then he went and got angry that Tony had a Hulk-buster armor. Was he really surprised? The Hulk needed someone to subdue him if Natasha's lullaby ever failed and they were in the middle of a populated area. Not to mention that having more heavy hitters could only be a bonus.

But at least _that_ part was behind them.

The Ultron part wasn't.

So you can just _imagine_ the stress levels Tony was feeling right now. _Especially_ after what happened between the two wizards just after Tony had dropped the bomb on them that he eon't be their sugar daddy anymore. He wanted desperately to be anywhere but here. Hell, he'll take that damned cave in Afghanistan over being here. He had at least had Yinsen back then, a man he knew for all of three months and who had become an impossibly dear friend to Tony. At least he had known where he stood with Raza and the Ten Rings from the start. SHIELD, the Avengers, even the UN Council? They all tried to manipulate him while pretending to be his friends or allies. He'd rather not have them as friends when his _enemies_ treated him with more respect.

"Stark," Fury said with a heavy sigh. "You can't go and start doing stupid-ass shit like this. The Avengers _need_ to stand together. You need to be the united front you were in New York. If you could fly a nuke through a wormhole into outer space for them, surely this can't be too much to ask."

"Nick," Tony drawled in return. He was keeping up his facade as best as he can, hands just _itching_ to tap his Arc Reactor or his wrist watch to activate the suit so he can feel better protected in front of these people that were greater vultures than the paparazzi. "I'm afraid you don't _get_ it. _That_ rocket has left a _long_ time ago. I just haven't realized it until I had a Captain America shield shaped scar on my chest. So sorry. You'll have to ask the UN for funds. The days of SI and Tony Stark keeping you lot afloat while I drown beneath you are done. Get over it and move on. I'm sure someone _else_ will be happy to support a superhero group of terrorists." He says it with a smile he knows perfectly well that will piss off more than a few of the members of the rouges group.

"This isn't about you, Stark." Barton snapped, as temperamental as ever, especially since Laura wasn't answering the phone now that he could call without fear of endangering her and their kids. He suspected Stark had something to do with it, which only made his temper that much worse.

"Really? I must not have noticed, as usually _everything _is about me, or so you believe. How strange that you're changing your mind now." He shook his head, as if mystified, knowing it will only piss Barton off more. "Is there anything else you'd like to discuss other than the fact that you won't be feeding and living off of my account anymore? And don't even try to give me that 'togetherness' crap because I'm not changing my mind about staying at Stark Tower. And don't even _think_ of suggesting you guys move right back in." He said with a glare at Cap, who had opened his mouth to no doubt suggest just that. "Or coming for a visit or whatever shit was about to come out of your mouth. You have more than you need or deserve at the Compound. Every other Stark property is off limits. Try and break in? Pepper will be on you like a mother bear on a threat to her cub. Believe me, I would know. She threatened me to not even contemplate a situation like that long ago. Not that I would. Those bridges have been burned down even beyond my ability to fix."

"Think about how this is going to affect the _team_, Tony," Natasha implores, doing that whole intro into a monologue about his ego or trying to play on his guilt, like she'd been doing for years. How had he not noticed the emotional manipulation before? He knew the answer. He was just so _desperate_ to pull ahead of his demons, to do something good that he had ended up making _these_ monsters that didn't care about who got hurt as long as _they_ were fine. "I know you're better than this. This is not Iron Man that I know."

"Really? Iron Man?" He asks with a scuff. "Iron Man and I are one. It's _me_ who's _in_ the armor that _I _made. And what _do_ you even know about me? The little profile you made during the whole Vanko thing? Let's talk about that, shall we?" He leaned his elbows on the table and offered her a big, fake, picture perfect smile. "I was dying. I was suffering from palladium poisoning. I was under duress. I am not saying some of the things I did can be given excuses but even when I was _dying_, less people died from my 'antics' than they did during _your_ efforts to _save_ them. And if you're going to start bringing up files, don't forget who here has access to _whose_ file, Miss Romanoff. SHIELD's little data leak did you no favors." He enjoyed how she had gone as stiff as stone with an angry glint in her eyes. And for the first time, Tony felt no fear for her skills and all the countless ways she could kill him.

"How has this happened to us, my shield brothers?" Thor asked tiredly, looking a lot more world weary than the last time they had seen him. Perhaps even a little wiser. It was hard to tell, at the moment. "If even I and Loki have managed to settle our differences and return to how we were before, then surely the same could happen for our team."

"Not so fast, Point Break." Tony cut in before Thor could say anything else. As was usual, Thor looked at Tony with confusion. It was interesting to see how Asgardians didn't seem to understand him at all, for all that they were an ancient people that had seen it all. "The reason you and Reindeer Games made up is because there was some actual love, trust and respect between you, none of which has ever been shared equally in this team. Therefore, this was never a _true_ team. Ergo, there's not much to fix, if anything. How are we to fought together if we can't trust each other. _They_," he pointed at the rouges. "Might trust each other and _we_," he pointed between himself, Peter, Rhody and Vision. "Might trust each other. But do we trust them and do they trust us?"

"Why _would_ we trust you, Stark?" Wanda snapped. "You only care about yourself and no one else. You threw us in the RAFT and you created Ultron-"

"And you, of your own free will, were first an eager HYDRA agent and then a gleeful helper of Ultron. I'm sorry, but I don't tend to negotiate with terrorists. Ask the Ten Rings for references." He retorts with a snort before shaking his head and looking Thor in the ... eye. Wasn't one pirate enough? And Thor looked so ... strange without his long hair. Not that this didn't suit him, too, it was just weird. "See what I mean? You can't expect us to work together, which is why I asked the UN to allow us to have _two_ teams. They can go knock themselves out, literally for all I care, and do whatever they want to do. _We _are going to do things legitimately. The people are concerned about the lack of responsibility and consequences among the superpowered 'community', so to say, and an unhappy crowd is a mob that will come after us with pitchforks and fire. I'd rather not drag down the entire superpowered, mutant, enhanced or inhuman population because of these idiots. And you yourself should be careful, Thor." At the blond's confused and wary look, Tony elaborated. "Even a handful of people like you is bound to cause a riot, especially if you're seen in the presence of international terrorists. T'Challa only manages to get away with what he does because he can throw his wealth and Vibranium around, otherwise Wakanda would have long since fallen. I'm afraid you don't have that luxury, Thor. You'll need to thread on eggshells for a while, especially since Loki is with you. People still haven't forgotten New York. Just keep that in mind, okay?"

"Seriously, Tony?" Steve asks, as though disappointed in him. As if Tony was some unreasonable child that was maliciously putting salt on a poor snail just to watch it writ in agony. "You're so petty about this that you're trying to turn Thor against his own team, his friends?"

"I'm just giving him sound advice. Better amputate a useless, diseased limb than let it infect the rest if the body and kill it slowly."

"You're just acting like a spoiled child." Maximoff hissed, red dripping from her fingers dangerously.

"You would know."

"Unfortunately," Bruce cut in before the repeat of Germany could happen within the not nearly big enough meeting room. "Tony is right." He turns to Thor with an apologetic smile. "You'll probably going to need to be very careful about what you say and do for quite a while. People may know _you_, but they also know Loki and this will not be an easy transaction for you and your people. It's a miracle they allowed you asylum in Norway at all." Tony looks away, hoping they don't realize _why_. Thor and Loki both once nearly strangling him doesn't mean he won't help what's left of a practically dying people. They didn't deserve to be judged by their princes' actions.

"I shall do my best to respect all the political customs of Midgard." Thor said with a determined nod, some of his gained wisdom showing. He was dead set on doing anything to protect his people.

"Earth," Tony corrects, looking back over to him. "You need to start calling it Earth. I advise you get a consultant or a lawyer - I can recommend a few and you decide - and to let your brother do more of the negotiations. Loki Silvertongue is a nickname he got for a reason, I believe. Just ... tell him to tone down the 'I am a god', 'mortals' and all that superiority and sheep bullshit. Otherwise, I think you'll find he fits right in." Politician were, after all, far worse snakes than Loki.

"Yes, you are probably right." The blond Asgardian nodded again. "Thank you, friend Stark, for your wise advice. I shall take it to heart. Where may I get these ... consultants?"

"I'm gonna take it you still don't have a phone or a computer?"

"Why would I need that? The infinite beer wizard asked me the same thing when I asked him why he hadn't informed me about my father's whereabouts on Earth. I have an 'electronic mail'. Darcy made it for me."

Tony went to facepalm but a single word in Thor's response resonated in his rather tired mind. He hadn't slept since the night before he was supposed to 'welcome' the rouges back, and even before then it had been restless, nightmares plaguing his nights, all sorts of mixed events that would not leave his mind. The word _wizard_ was glaring at him and he could tell that the others had honed in on it, too. Fury was pretending to look confused but Tony knew better. He knew something, which meant Coulson and Hill knew something about a certain wizard Stephen that Tony had briefly met. At least he _thinks_ it might be him. Something in him was _certain_ it was him.

But he couldn't focus on that now. Right. Asgardians in Norway. Consultants. Fun. "I will get you one and prepare a file about the consultants and lawyers I'd recommend. You can take any of them or take someone else on. Just tell them to put the bill on Stark International's account and Pepper will deal with everything else. They'll act as your PR team for now. I would also suggest you read the Accords and see whether you want to sign it or not. Now, if none of you mind, if that's all, I'll be taking my leave."

"We have not finished our discussion yet, Stark." Fury called after him as Tony stood up and stretched, moving towards the door. "You are a SHIELD and Avengers consultant, under contract to-"

"Consult, repair, rebuild, fix and advise." Tony cut him off once again. "Not house, babysit and feed and I did all that additionally, as well as shield them from the public eye and protect their families. And that's not a valid argument, Fury. SHIELD doesn't exist anymore, if it ever really had. And as the other half of the founding force behind the Avengers Initiative," he arched a challenging eyebrow at the director. "I can do the hell as I please. Which is why you can discuss the two teams issue with the UN, only don't hold your breath. They're all for it. Something about there being one team to corral the other? I'd thread cautiously, if I were you. One false move could easily put you back in the RAFT and nothing will get you out of it again."

"Is that a threat?" Clint asked in a dangerous sort of voice, hand wrapping around a hidden knife he was under the impression FRIDAY hadn't detected. In between Rogers and Wilson, Barns twitched. Peter suddenly went as stiff as was humanly possible, his spider senses tingling while Rhodey and Vision tensed for action. Tony itched _so_ bad to just activate his suit and show them all who and what they were going up against. He had always held back, even in Siberia, when it came to them. Well, they're about to learn that _that_ had changed.

"It's a fact."

"You're in no position to threaten anyone, Stark." Wanda sneered, red energy now engulfing her entire fists as she just _itched_ to attack him. "You don't have the _biggest stick_ in the room." The reference to his father had Tony grinding his teeth but he wouldn't give her the satisfaction. She's not the only one whose parents were killed, only _his_ were specifically _murdered_ while he had indirectly fallen prey to Stane's under the table deals.

He ignored her and just continued on walking but his heart stopped when, with a snarl, he suddenly felt something _tugging_ at him, that god awful red magic holding him, about to throw him against the furthest wall with all the strength the Scarlet Witch can no doubt muster, possibly breaking his spine in the process. He had no time to yelp, no time to react, not even to activate his new suit. He wasn't sure if FRIDAY will be able to catch him with it in time or if he was going to die or join Rhodey-

When suddenly a hand wrapped around his wrist and a golden energy engulfed him whole, the red bursting like a soap bubble and falling away from him in much the same manner. He felt himself being pulled in the opposite direction and he braced himself for impact, wither with the wall or with the floor, but instead all he hit against was a strong, blue-robed chest and a steadying hand on his left hip while something slithered around the small of his back to further steady him. When he looked, he found it was a very familiar red article of clothing before he was distracted by yelps and enraged yells behind him by most of the rest of the room's occupants and he turned his head around to look.

At the end of a long, blue clad arm was a scarred hand which had some strange glowing mandalas around and in front of it, from which a multitude of gold energy chains had appeared and wrapped around the rouges, Fury, Coulson, Hill and two were threatening Thor and Bruce. Tony desperately wanted to laugh at the sight of Wanda hanging upside down with chains covering her mouth and restraining her hands in such a way that she can't conjure magic between them. Rhodey, Peter and Vision seemed to be fine, though, which Tony was thankful for.

Speaking of being thankful, Stark back and up at his rescuer, wondering how he had known Tony was in trouble and where the hell he had come from. Judging by the spinning, sparkling portal behind him, the second question had an obvious answer. The first, as well as who the hell this guy was and why he was doing this, are yet to be answered.

Once the stranger had assured himself that the situation was under control, blue-green eyes looked down and locked with golden brown ones, the light of the portal making them resemble whiskey. Tony was surprised by the sharpness of the other's gaze, although that might have something to do with their proximity. This was probably the closest Tony's ever stood to someone that he didn't have to. In a very long while.

"Tony Stark," the familiar stranger he knew only as Stephen said in a deep voice that vibrated through his chest into Tony's, that's how close they were. "My name is Doctor Stephen Strange. I need you to come with me."


	5. Chapter 5

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

Strange had not expected to walk in on Stark being assaulted when he had finally decided to drop in on a visit and discuss things with the famous billionaire, and by his own teammate. He had honestly expected to find To- Stark in one of his labs, tinkering with some thing or the other or in a board meeting for his company like Stephen had seen him do countless times in over fourteen million lives that could have been. Maybe even out for a ride in one of his fancy cars or just getting some not so healthy food at some joint no one would have suspected to be Tony Stark's favored dinner. But walking in on an Avengers meeting just in time to see the Scarlet Witch try to toss him across the room like a rag doll was not something he had been expecting. Not at all.

It was a good thing his self defense training at Kamar-Taj had sharpened his reflexes, or else the universe would have been royally screwed without the second contender for the Infinity Stones.

It was laughably easy to restrain the Avengers, a simple binding spell had them all wrapped up like nice little packages ready for delivery. He was even tempted to make a bow, although he refrained from doing so as it would be childish and he was above that, no matter how fun it could have been. He hesitated in agitating the Hulk, more so because he had seen what he now recognized as Bruce Banner fighting - or trying to fight - by Tony's side in his visions and he knew he could deal with Thor more than sufficiently enough, god or no god. There was the teenager that he had seen mostly by Stark's side and the man whom he knew was his best friend. Then there was Vision and the Mind Stone and Stephen was reminded why he was here.

That did not mean he let go of the shorter man one bit. He was still mostly leaning on Stephen and until he stands on his own two feet steadily, Stephen has no intention of letting him go. Strangely enough, the Cloak was allowing it. It usually hated anyone being too close to its chosen master, even Christine or Wong, whom it was more than used to. Maybe it had something to do with Stephen asking it once already to keep an eye on Tony?

Damn it, there he goes again. He wasn't supposed to call Stark by his first name, even in his own head. But it was hard. The memories from the futures he had seen were still fresh in his mind and with his perfect memory, chances of it fading were slim to none. After seeing this man fight for the fate of the universe, die for it, for its people, for _him_, it was hard not to be at least a little friendly and fond of the brunet. But it would be unfair to To- Stark for Stephen to know his story and for Tony - _damn_ it -not to know his at all. So no first name basis until that at least is cleared up.

That could wait, though, as it was obvious this was not a conversation they could have here. Not if this was how his teammates treated him. Besides, this was well beyond what the Avengers can really handle, especially as they are now. Stark will need help to prepare for what was to come and these people, these so called rouge Avengers, will not be of any help. Even if they _wanted_ to help, they won't know how. And this is far more important than they are. Stark needed to be ready, whether he liked it or not.

"Tony Stark," he said in a steady, sure voice. "My name is Doctor Stephen Strange. I need you to come with me." Stark looked haggard. Like he hadn't slept in days. Stephen wouldn't be surprised. In the fourteen thousand futures that he'd seen, there was quite a number of them in which Tony told him things. Many, many things, usually his fears and nightmares and the mistakes he's made. He'd tell him everything and Stephen told him about his accident, how arrogant he was, how hard it was in those first weeks of his training in Kamar-Taj, the loss of the Ancient One and Mordo leaving. But that only happened for Stephen. Those futures may never be now that he's interfering. He didn't know if anything was ever going to be the same as before he had tempered with the time line but he was ready to fight for it. He was ready to fight for a chance to have that happen again, that camaraderie and that trust.

But first ... First he had to make sure Tony _survives_ to the point where they might get that chance.

"Um ... Thanks for the save and all, but I don't think that's a good idea." Tony said with a flick of his eyes in the direction of the other Avengers. "And ... Thanks for the other day, too. But I really, really don't think it's a smart idea that I go with you. For one, I don't know you. No offense, but I can't be sure whether you're just trying to get my trust and then just offing me yourself or something equally dastardly." Stephen had to repress a smile as the shorter man started rambling. "Two, you kind of just appeared out of nowhere and tied up my team, all wizard-y like and I don't appreciate magic. Not after, well, everything."

"Then it's a good thing that I'm a sorcerer and not a wizard and there's a little bit more energy and power to what I do than just _magic_." Strange cut in before Tony could continue rambling. He finally stepped back a little when he was sure Tony could stand on his own but the Cloak remained touching Stark, holding his wrist. Weird. It was only touchy feely with Stephen. He'll have to look into that. "And I can promise you I mean you no harm. I'm an actual doctor and I don't go against my Hippocratic oath by harming people."

Tony's eyes flashed with recognition. " Wait, you're the world renowned, high on demand, overqualified neurosurgeon that disappeared off of the face of the earth? What are you doing here playing witches and warlocks?"

"We have much to discuss, but I would prefer it if we could do so in private." The sorcerer replied seriously, casting his glance back at the Avengers and rouges. Tony looked at them over his shoulder, too, and frowned. No one had ever so easily disabled them all like Strange had. Tony didn't feel as comfortable with leaving with him alone as one might expect seeing as Strange had just saved him from Wanda. Not even T'Challa's Vibranium suit had saved him from the effects of the energy chains holding everyone down.

Seeing his indecision, Strange put both hands on Tony's shoulders and looked him dead in the eyes, trying to portray just how serious he was being. Tony froze under those too blue eyes, not understanding the intensity there, the desperation and, most of all, the _trust_. Why would a complete stranger trust him with _anything_?

Strange's next words knocked the air right out of his lungs and he wasn't even sure how the man did that.

"You were _right_, Tony. You were always right but no one listened. You were right. They are coming and we are not ready. I need you and you will need me to prepare. The fate of everything we hold dear may just rest on this alliance. _Please_."

The engineer stared up at the taller man, trying to find any traces of deceit in his face, in his eyes, but he could see none. The other man was completely sincere and desperate enough to practically be pleading with Tony to listen to him. What he had said, though ... That's what had Tony's pulse spiking. None one had believed him before, not Pepper, not his team, not his friends. And yet, this utter stranger ... "Okay, I accept, but I chose where."

"Done." Strange easily agreed, gesturing behind them for Tony to lead the way.

"Stark, you can't do this." Fury called as Stephen turned to let lead Tony them out of the room. "You can't trust this man. You've never met him. He might be trying to use you."

"And you aren't?" Sneered the doctor, much to everyone's surprise. "I at least plan on making this an equal partnership and listening to what he has to say, which is already leagues above what you would do."

"He just admitted that he's planning on using you and you're still going with him?" The Black Widow challenged but Tony ignored her. This was far more important than any of them and their shit. Anyone can deal with them. If this guy somehow knows something about the visions Tony had ever since New York and especially after Sokovia, then whatever he's got to say is important. "I'm disappointed in you, Tony."

"Yeah, you wouldn't be the first one to say that, but whatever. I can do my own thing." He fires back as he exits the room. To his surprise, Strange doesn't immediately follow him, still standing by the doorway and glaring at the tied up Avengers with some very intense disgust on his face. He couldn't help it. These people were supposed to be Tony's team and yet they were attacking him just seconds before Stephen had arrived. Had he been a second late, all the possible futures he had seen would have been lost forever. Stark was obviously not safe with these people but Stephen knew he couldn't just demand the billionaire come with him and leave them all behind for good. They were nothing more than a distraction, in both the planning and what they were planning for. They could be an asset out on the field, one day, if they could actually _listen_ to Tony every once in a while, but Stephen didn't see that happening any time soon or all that often. "You coming?"

He looked up at the call, meeting cautious brown eyes and he sighed but nodded, going after the genius. He decided against immediately releasing the rouges. They'll just come barging in and make things more difficult then they're already going to be. For one, Stephen has to be careful about what he says. There were a few futures where he'd told Tony what was going to happen and Tony had gone and completely changed everything. Sometimes, it worked, for a while at least, before those unchangeable, fixed moments occurred anyway and it all went to shit. Other times, it all ended even worse than it could of and everyone, including Iron Man, dies and the universe is left to fend for itself. So Stephen will have to be careful about what he says in order to keep them on this track while, at the same time, not actually deceiving Tony in any way lest he lose his trust, a precious and rare thing these days and all those that follow. And he _will_ need it if he wants them to effectively work together, _especially_ as he had some less than science-related plans for Tony in the hopefully near future.

Tony led them to a nearby, empty business meeting room, smaller than the one he had been sitting in with the Avengers, rouges and ex SHIELD agents. It had a small, family sized table, looking more appropriate for a divorce signing than a big business meeting. Tony sat in one of the chairs while gesturing for Stephen to do the same across from him. Before he could, the Cloak of Levitation beat him to it, startling Stark with its almost enthusiastic compliance to his silent request. The sorcerer chuckled and took the other seat, watching the by now way way Stark was studying the Cloak. It had proven to be a point of fascination for Tony in all versions of himself and the two were more often than not seen together. Stephen still didn't know if it was for Stark's protection - he had kept mostly to his promise to Wong to only look at snippets so he didn't know the whole background between the two - or if they became friends of sorts over time. With Stark and the Cloak, both was possible. He knew, however, that there was no version of Stark that wasn't intrigued by the cloak.

"So, I've got a few questions." Tony, as he was wont to, was the first to break the silence, finally tearing his eyes away from the sentient article of clothing. Stephen couldn't stop the smallest of twitches of his lips.

"I can only imagine."

Tony rolled his eyes and leaned forward, going from relaxed and friendly straight into business mode that was so rarely on display. "I think the first one I'm gonna ask is how you know that _I_ know anything? No offense, doc, but we've never met and the only people I ever even remotely brought this up with didn't take me seriously or downright ignored me and called me paranoid. And you're not one of those people I've opened up to regarding this."

Stephen frowned, confused. "I was under the impression that at least one of the people you've talked to about this took you seriously. Someone named Jarvis?" He watched in interest how Stark seemed to freeze up in an instant, as though blasted into space without his armor or any other form of protection. "Tony?" He asked worriedly, wondering what could have triggered such a response. Whoever this Jarvis was, it had always been clear to Stephen, no matter which version that learned of this person, that they were special to Stark. But Tony never once elaborated, too pained to even explain or say the name without a half formed anxiety attack. "Did I say something wrong?"

"H-how do you," Stark tried, taking a deep breath when his voice broke on the word. "How do you know about JARVIS?" His face was set in a fierce glare now and Stephen could just barely make out the vaguely familiar sound of swarming metal forming a gauntlet out of his line of sight. "I don't _talk_ about JARVIS. Not with Pepper, not with Rhodey, not with Vision or anyone. Not even with FRIDAY and she's my newer AI."

"Jarvis was an AI?" The Sorcerer Supreme couldn't help but ask, intrigued. At Tony's confused but still furious face, he decided to explain himself some. "Right. How do I even go about this." He sighed and looked Tony dead in the eyes. "Do you know anything about sorcery, Tony?"

Said man blinked. "I've faced a few magical and magic wielding beings and can detect its energy signature, if that's what you mean."

Stephen nodded. "I've been expecting as much. Well, I guess I should start by stating the obvious. I'm a sorcerer." He said, indicating at himself with one shaking, scared hand. "A Master of the Mystic Arts. The Sorcerer Supreme, to be exact. I preside over the magic, magical items and magic users on Earth and anything that poses a threat to our reality. Kind of like you, only I protect the Earth from the metaphysical. The Masters of Mystical Arts have been protecting Earth for thousands of years and we've amassed quite a collection of spells and artifacts that allows us to do our job a lot more easily. One of those spells include something like a monitoring system. Like a radar for users and practitioners of the Mystic Arts and threats that might endanger our reality. And this radar picked up you. A long time ago."

"Me?" The incredulous engineer repeated, repulsor glove still in place should he need to use it. Stephen nodded. "Why me? And why are you approaching me only now if this thing picked me out as a threat?"

"Not a threat, not in that way, at least." Stephen assured. "The Ancient One must have known something she hadn't shared. She was the Sorcerer Supreme before me and my teacher." He explained at Stark's blank look. "She deemed it not the right time to approach you and you were, as such, left to your own devices until such a time as is right comes that we _should_ contact you."

"And that time came when your wizard buddy tried to off me the other day?"

"It certainly made me look into things more closely." Strange fired back with a sardonic smirk. They were only just getting started and things were already far more complicated than he'd like.

"And what you found made you seek me out?" The ex neurosurgeon nodded. "Why?"

"Because we, as in the Masters of the Mystic Arts, have detected something that might pose a bigger threat to Earth than we can handle alone and it was obvious the Ancient One thought you might be of much help." He replied semi sincerely. He didn't really know why the Ancient One had never approached someone of Stark's potential and Wong and the other Masters were none the wiser than he was. But he _did_ know what was coming and he _did_ know Stark would be a major source of help in defending the Earth and the universe at large. "I am not at liberty to discuss the secrets of the Order that has been around for thousands of years when I am barely a year long Sorcerer Supreme, but I _do_ know that you've been preparing for this event for a few years now. Whatever you could do to help will be most appreciated. However, I think it is best if we actively work together to solve this incoming problem."

"You still have a lot more to explain before we can move on," Stark said dangerously and Stephen sighed. He knew it had to be this way, it was part of Tony's character after all the things he'd been through, but he had foolishly hoped they could skip this part and go straight into their future relationship as allies and friends. He had not expected that knowing the future would cloud his brain this much.

"You're being watched, Tony. For many years now. Not just by the press, not just by SHIELD agents, not just by your competitors or the army or even the entire world. There are entities that have become interested in you and have been watching - or trying to watch - as you developed from who you have been to the man you are now. Searching for strengths, weaknesses, soft or sore spots to exploit."

"Your sorcerer friends one of those who are watching me?"

"Some," Stephen agreed, not saying anything about one of them actually being himself. "Only we are seeking to protect and ally with you. The other entity ... I don't know whether he's aware or not that he's best off to just kill you while he still can or if he just wants to play with you."

There was a moment of silence. "I'm taking you're talking about this big bad coming." It wasn't even a question. It would never be. Stark had been cursed with this knowledge since New York, which was, what, almost six years ago? Five and a few months? Stark had known, he had always known, but people had ignored him. Had called him crazy and paranoid and had them all explain it away with his PTSD. But Stark had known and he had tried his best to prepare on his own. However, the Avengers were always demanding his attention and distracting him from what was truly important. Stephen was here to change that and to lighten the load by bearing some of it for this man. "What are we actually facing?"

"The one who had sent the army to New York." Stephen replied, watching Tony stiffen. "A Mad Titan, feared throughout the universe for he seeks infinite power in order to bring balance to the universe. By erasing half of its entire population." He watched as Tony paled and heard the repulser whine in response to his distress but he knew the man won't fire at him.

"What's his name?" The genius asked tersely, tense and dead serious. Stephen saw that determination flicker in Tony's eyes that he was so familiar with in every version of this man that he had ever glimpsed in those fourteen million six hundred and five futures.

Stephen momentarily wondered if this was the last sight seen by their enemy.

"Thanos."


	6. Chapter 6

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

The name settled heavily between them like a fog over a mountain range. It filled the room with a sort of tension that had not been there before. Stark was tenser than Stephen had ever seen him in any of the futures and that kind of worried him. The doctor part of his brain had been insisting he do a throughout check on Tony ever since he stopped his almost injury but he had been able to push it into the background so far. The way Tony was holding himself, though, was not allowing for that. It could mean distress or an oncoming anxiety attack, neither of which will help their planning and to-be-developed relationship.

Stephen looked down towards the table, where Tony's gauntleted hand was hidden by it, when he heard the telltale sign of the armor retreating back to wherever it had come from. Tony now had both hands on the surface of the table, clenched hard until his knuckles were white, but he seemed to be doing breathing exercises to calm himself down. When he met Stephen's eyes a moment later, the business was replaced by the Avenger, by Iron Man and Stephen knew that everything will depend on the upcoming questions.

"Thanos. Right." He nodded, as though to himself. "We know what he wants. Do we know how he plans to do it?"

In response, Stephen summoned his magic and without prompting replicated an illusionary Big Bang. Tony started at the suddenness of it but didn't seem shocked by the light show. To be expected, if Stephen had seen his holograms right. "At the dawn of the universe, there was nothing. And then BOOM." The flash of light left behind five glowing point on which Tony immediately, unerringly focused, as though he already knew what they were, as though they were _calling_ despite being nothing more than an illusion. Stephen noted that in the back of his head, figuring it might not be so off the mark when he thought about all that he currently knew and Mordo's words. "The Big Bang sent six elemental crystals hurtling across the virgin universe." The lights receded until said crystals were clear to see and each of them lit up in turn as Stephen introduced them. "The Infinity Stones each control an essential aspect of existence. Space," the blue stone glowed. "Reality. Power." The red and purple stones followed, lighting up before returning to normal while the orange stone lit up next. "Soul. Mind." There went the yellow one. Stephen took q deep breath and put his hands in the required positions in order to open the Eye of Agamotto. "And Time."

The soft green light filled the room, its glow joining the other five, making it the six Infinity Stones for the first time seen in the same space in who knows how long, if ever before, even if only in illusion. Tony was watching with an intense sort of attention, absorbing all information that was freely given and Strange could easily recognize the expression on his face. He could just imagine the acrobatics his brilliant mind was currently doing, churning over all that he knew, making plans and contingencies as he went, all the while still listening to anything and everything Stephen said. He'd been on the receiving end of such attention many times in the futures he had seen but it was quite different to feel it on his skin in person. Brown was the most common eye color and yet Tony Stark's eyes were anything but. Stephen felt as though an X ray was studying him. He felt exposed, in a way. He wasn't sure how he felt about _that_.

"Thanos. He's the one who sent Loki back in New York?"

"You know Loki's been controlled?" Now that came as a surprise. Tony had never disclosed any such information to him before. Then again, Loki was very rarely a topic they talked about. Still, this was new.

The engineer shrugged, looking away. "It became obvious after seeing the eyes of a few others who were under the control of the Tesseract and the Scepter. They were a crazed blue. Loki resisted better than the others - probably something to do with his affinity towards magic that Thor mentioned once or twice - but he was still not all there. Not by his own choice, anyway."

"The Tesseract contains the Space Stone. It doesn't have the power of mind control." Stephen pointed out and his companion only rolled his eyes.

"Maybe not, but the container that the Tesseract actually is wasn't in the best condition and it was leaking enormous amounts of residual power and energy all over the place. That residual energy was used to power the much better contained Mind Stone in Loki's Scepter, until that, too, was broken. HYDRA has the tendency to weaken the the containers of infinite power, it would seem." Tony shrugged. "Point is, two Infinity Stones were at work and as the one leaking more power, the Tesseract kind of took over. But because it was leaking so much power, it was also a lot easier to find and to the neutralize its power, which Selvig figured out, thankfully, or else we'd have had problems with this Thanos fellow five years ago."

"Just how _well_ acquainted with the Infinity Stones _are_ you, actually?" The sorcerer couldn't help but wonder. He had his theories, but none were ever confirmed nor denied in any of the futures he'd ever seen. He knew Tony knew _something_ about them, but this was his chance to find out just how much. It will be helpful in the long run, that was for sure.

"I've tracked and analyzed the Tesseract during the New York incident and I've ran diagnostics, tracked and studied the Mind Stone before, during and many times after the Ultron and Sokovia incidents." Stark shrugged half heartedly. "I've also studied the residual energy after that Aether thing, since its signature resembled the Tesseracts, but I couldn't get close enough to it in London, since I hadn't had the suit at hand. JARVIS and I ran some scans, but that was it."

"That's still probably more knowledge about the Space, Mind and Reality stones than any normal mortal man has on hand." The books in Kamar-Taj aren't exactly available for everyone, after all. Not even the Masters of the Mystic Arts. The Infinity Stones were only discussed in the Sorcerer Supreme's personal collection and rare few dare even _look_ at those books, let alone open them for study. Stephen had been the first in a long while who had opened them, and as only an apprentice level mage. People were intimidated by the powers and knowledge hidden in there. Besides, most of them had come to cure their bodies, not learn how to defend the multiverse.

"Speaking of which, how do you know about JARVIS?" Challenged the genius, taking hold of a discarded thread of conversation that had been put aside during the Infinity Stone discussion.

"I already said there are ways to watch you."

"Then you would have known JARVIS was my AI. You wouldn't be surprised. You would know what happened to him." Tony's voice started off near angry but it broke on the last sentence and the Cloak surprised them both when it floated over to settle around the shorter man's shoulders in an almost comforting manner. Tony startled at the weight of it but didn't brush it off. He somehow seemed to realize it was a friendly relic, which Stephen secretly found endearing. Christine, for all that she was trying, just could _not_ accept the cloak.

"Just because you're being watched doesn't mean we do it _all_ the time. Just ... when we feel something is happening or it might happen that could need assistance from us. We could not have known JARVIS was an artificial person if we didn't observe _everything_." It was as close to the truth as Stephen could get without outright telling Stark that he had looked into the future with the Time Stone. Tony would no doubt soon catch up on that and he'll probably get grilled for keeping that information from the genius, but it was for the best right now. "I'm guessing from your reaction that he was ... important to you?"

"All my bots are important to be. They're like my children." The comment was so far off uncaring that Stephen nearly flinched. Touchy subject but one that he might be able to help with.

"What happened to him?"

"He was the first person killed by Ultron - you know about Ultron?" Stephen nodded and Tony continued. "Anyway, he managed to save a part of his code and I put it in a Vibranium body, using the Mind Stone. Only JARVIS didn't make it. Vision did. JARVIS is gone." The words obviously pained him but Strange had to admire the way he didn't let it show on his face. Damn, he must be good at poker.

"Did you ever think of trying to get him back?"

"I thought about it and I ran some simulations - with Viz's approval, of course - but I concluded it was just not possible. Not in my life time, anyway."

"And why is that?"

Tony eyed him suspiciously before shrugging. "JARVIS was an autonomous, sentient being for two or so decades. Vision's mind is young and entirely dependent of the code and the Mind Stone. Take one or the other away and he might just fall apart. Not immediately, but in, like ... a year or so. He'd have to develop himself for the same amount of time the component that is to be removed has been developing and the likeliness of me living to see that gets thiner and thiner by the day. I don't want to risk Vision by rushing into some half assed procedure nor do I want to subject JARVIS to a world where I'm not there. He'd just shut himself down. So I've ... learned to live with it, I guess." He shrugged again but could not meet Stephen's eyes, gaze averted elsewhere.

The sorcerer frowned in thought, analyzing what Tony had just said and trying to decide whether exposing Stark to the power of a fourth Infinity Stone was wise at all. But he needed Stark to trust him, otherwise, the other man won't do half the things that are needed to ensure his safety. And from the snippets he'd seen, Stark usually listening to JARVIS and the AI fretted over its creator like a mother hen. He would be an excellent asset in keeping the man safe as well as someone who can calm Tony down and make him feel comfortable.

"So ... All you need in order to get JARVIS back is time?" He asked to clarify and confirm.

"Basically, yes. Sounds like so little but is actually so much." Stark said with a sardonic smirk. "If I needed a better computer, a better power source, a better machine, I'd have made it and done it all a long time ago. But I need time. _Vision_ needs time to form his own protocols. For all that he acts more and more human by the day, he's still a being of code and metal. He's struggling to understand the world he was thrown into, being treated like an adult when he's only really still a child. He reminds me a little of JARVIS when he first came online. JARVIS was just as innocent and naive as Vision is now. I guess I kind of corrupted him. Story of my life."

"If JARVIS was truly sentient, which I have no doubt about, I highly doubt you could influence him as much as you think you did." The taller man said dryly, which earned him a chuckle from his companion. He sighed and dove right back into business. "Tony ... I know you don't trust me and I'd be a fool to ask you to after just one conversation."

"One rather cryptic conversation, at that," the other replied, looking at Stephen like he was something new and not understanding what to do with him. To be expected. This was probably the first time someone other than his own creation that was actually _paying attention_ to the coming threat. Stephen vowed to always listen to Tony when he needed him. Even when he didn't. He deserved at least that much.

He nodded to Tony's point but didn't make promises about explaining everything. He didn't want to give Tony ideas and it was best to leave the timeline as unchanged as they could keep it. Let it flow as it should. "But we _need_ to be able to work together. There is too much at stake for either of us to doubt each other, question every decision we might make or hold out on each other. There will come a time when I can explain everything, I think, but right now, at this moment," he gestured between them. "We need to come to an agreement."

"You mean work together," Stark part asked, part concluded and Strange nodded to him. "That's going to be a bit difficult, as I am currently working on the Accords."

"I'll take a look and make some suggestions, but I promise to sign them. Accountability is something I can stand behind." Stark seemed surprised by that and a little grateful. Stephen smiled at him, trying not to look fond of a man he should have met personally only now. But seeing so many futures featuring this man, going out on life and limb to protect everyone ... It was hard not to feel fond of him. "I used to be a doctor, Tony. I knew the consequences of my actions and acted accordingly. As Sorcerer Supreme of Earth, I am responsible for the protection of not just our planet and the universe, but every dimension of existence, of _reality_. The multiverse is my responsibility. If I didn't support accountability ... There are many sorcerers who seek to do harm with the mystic arts they mastered. I myself must face the consequences of my actions like everyone else, but when you are expected to search out those who use magic for their own selfish gain and are endangering others, you must be _aware_ of everything the implies. Otherwise, you might as well be no better than the ones you are accosting."

"I'll get you a copy." Tony said in a distant voice and Stephen wondered what the genius was thinking about. "We should probably brief Vision on this. Maybe Thor. Is that all you wanted to talk about?"

"Actually, I wanted to discuss this JARVIS-Vision thing a bit more." He replied as casually as he could and pretended that he didn't see how Stark clenched his hands into fists or how the cloak shimmied on the tense man's shoulders. "You said Vision would need time to develop his own protocols. How much time, exactly?"

"Like I said, about two decades." At the look the sorcerer was giving him, Iron Man folded. "With the two years he's already spent as his own entity? Twenty five years, six months, two days and fourteen hours, approximately." At Stephen's arched eyebrow, the engineer bristled. "What?"

"How come I've never heard about you having photographic memory?" It was rare to meet someone with that particular trait. Stephen had yet to meet someone like him, until this very moment. A genius was one thing, even rarer than photographic memory in some ways, but even an idiot could have photographic memory. Memory and intelligence aren't connected. It was almost a scary thought to have a genius of Tony's caliber gifted with photographic memory as well. Stephen was a genius in his own way, but there were rumors Stark's IQ tests weren't normal since there was rarely a test that can measure his full intelligence right. Like they can't measure it at all. "I'm sure it would have been all over the news."

"Like the world needs any more reason to hate me." Tony snorted, crossing his arms. "Besides, it would take away my 'ignorant billionaire who doesn't remember faces well' alibi when I want to piss people off by not calling them their names. It would ruin my fun." That startled a chuckle out of Strange and he shook his head.

"Only you, Tony." Said man looked surprised by the comment and Stephen wondered why. Was he expecting Stephen to be angry with his response? What right does he have to do that, anyway. It was Tony's life. "Anyway, I can work with that. Actually, I can _more_ than work with that. The more precise the better."

"What are you talking about?" The genius asked wearily and Stephen sighed. This was either going to make or break the deal. This will either lose him whatever little respect and trust he had garnered from Stark or make it solid. This was obviously a very delicate topic and Tony might shut him out completely. Then again, he hadn't so far so there might be s chance this could go over well.

"I can ... I can control the Time Stone within the Eye of Agamotto. It is very dangerous, but as long as an event or intervention from its power is localized, then it shouldn't be too much of a problem." By the way stark was staring at him, he didn't need elaboration although he _did_ show a great amount of disbelief and ... _cautious hope_? Yes, there was definitely a different spark in Stark's eye. He took a deep sigh and continued. It was now or never. "The removal of JARVIS' code will let Vision become completely his own individual, yes?"

"Yeah. Right now, he's dependent on many things. He's constructed of different layers. Ultron, JARVIS, Bruce, me, the Mind Stone and Doctor Cho's cradle, as well as whatever effects Mjolnir's lightning had on awakening him. Basically, he's a layered cake but JARVIS and the Mind Stone are his beginning and end, the bottom and top layers respectively. At this point," Tony said with a shaky sigh. "The removal of either of those will cause the other layers to implode. It makes very little sense, but think of it as two sides of a force field or something. Those two components are keeping all the other ones stacked together. And taking JARVIS out would be like destroying the foundation of a skyscraper. A catastrophe."

"But with time, Vision would create his own 'force field' and keep those components together on his own," Stephen concluded. "So we will give him time. I can lock him in the Mirror dimension and use the Time Stone on his processor or brain or whatever he has."

"You'd be surprised. It's a mixture of both, in a way, since Doctor Cho made the processor to resemble the human brain as much as can be done."

The sorcerer huffed at the smug, proud tone Tony said all of this with. He wasn't kidding when he said his AIs were his children. "It will let him develop enough to stand on his own and _that_ will keep him from dying if worse comes to worst and the Mind Stone is taken from him. He'd probably just need a new power source."

"I'll start working in an Arc Reactor for him as soon as we get his consent to do this." Stephen had to smile at the excitement bleeding into Tony's voice as it became more and more probable that he'll be getting JARVIS back. "I'm sure he'll be happy to have free space to form his own memories and stop being semi dependent on me. I can see it sometimes, how he looks at me as though it were the first time he was seeing me. And he can make his own decisions without being biased by JARVIS' code or past experiences and preferences."

"And he'll be safe from dying." Which is what he knew Tony didn't want to think about. But he didn't know what Stephen did. The Mind Stone can't stay where it is. The Stones will all be united and stay together. Where they will stay is a whole different matter right now. "I am ready whenever you two are."

"How long will this take?"

He thought about it for a moment. "I'd recommend we not make it instantaneous, for the sake of his circuits. A day at most should be enough of a stretch to keep it all from going critical."

"A year an hour?"

"Yes, almost. A little more, but it won't stress his systems." Tony nodded at that, obviously cautious. Stephen waited for it, the question he knew would come and already preparing an answer for it. Today was just setting the ground work but the foundations has to be strong.

"But why would you be doing this? As far as I know about all things time-concerned, it's all dangerous business that could rip a hole in the universe-"

"Multiverse, actually," he automatically corrected and Tony just rolled his eyes at him. The genius continued as though he had not been interrupted at all.

"So why are you willing to do this for me and JARVIS? And Vision, I guess. Independence of the Stone will be good to him."

"Because I want to earn your trust," Stephen answered immediately and sincerely, startling Stark with his honest answer. "I'm not really into the whole gossip and tabloids about Avengers drama, but I _have_ seen what had happened. I saw what you were doing to fix it all. I guess you earned my respect. But more importantly, I knew I could trust you with the Earth because you've been doing everything in your power to protect it for years. But in order for us to get along and work together towards our common goal, I need to have at least a _fragment_ of your trust. I can tell JARVIS was important to you; how couldn't he be, if you view him as your child? So I want to help you get him back as a sign of good will and faith. If we can work together on personal matters, global and universal ones will come along as we go."

"Multiversal," Stark snarked and Stephen chuckled. "But I see your point and I understand where you're coming from, I do. It was personal problems that had ended the Avengers, after all. We can't afford _our_ partnership to end for the same, insignificant reason."

The robed man swallowed and nodded, hearing the undercurrent of _'Don't lie or hide things from me'_ that Tony was unintentionally pouring into the words. Tony didn't know that Stephen was partially aware as to what had happened between him and Rogers. Fourteen million six hundred and five versions was quite the chance to learn something about a person. "We'll share information but I think we shouldn't force some things. I know I probably have a lot more explaining to do to you, but that will have to wait, even if for a little while, Tony."

The genius ran his hand through his hair with a groan but nodded in acceptance. He recognized that Tony knew Stephen was the one with more information about the powers of the Infinity Stones, even if he was the one with their energy signatures and power readings. They'd have to make a joint effort to defeat Thanos when he comes. _When_, not if. They both knew it was not if. Especially not with two Infinity Stones on Earth. "Fine. We'll take it one step at a time. For now, I trust you to not try anything on Vision while you do your voodoo magic and you'll just have to trust me not to drive you mad with questions."

Stephen grinned. He couldn't help it. Tony was not only entrusting him with an Infinity Stone but also with what was essentially his child. _Two_ of them, since JARVIS will soon enough be in the picture. That was probably more trust than he had ever had in his 'team'. This was probably going to turn out just fine.

"I can live with that."


	7. Chapter 7

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

Tony hated to admit it, but he was a bit nervous when approaching Vision later that afternoon, after he had finished his meeting with Strange and had returned to the Tower, where Rhody, Vision and Peter had all but bombarded him with questions about 'the wizard' that had stolen him from the meeting. He was still a bit shaken up by what they had talked about and had merely told them the man's name and his intentions to join the Accords. Peter was probably the only one who had taken that at face value while Rhody and Vision exchanged looks with each other, decided to question him later and instead filled him in on the temper tantrum the rouges had thrown about what Strange had done to them.

Apparently, they had stayed tied up until Tony had left the building to go to his next meeting, almost an hour after they had been tied up in the first place. As soon as the restraining magic popped out of existence, Wanda had started throwing around her volatile red magic all over the place, thankfully only hitting Rogers and Thor and not managing to release the Hulk on them all again. Apparently, Bruce had better control over his transformations now and he and the Jolly Big Green Giant were on speaking terms, which was nice, as Bruce didn't fear the Hulk any more and that was for the best for the both of them. Romanov had immediately set on searching for information on Strange while Barton was bitching at everyone about being so easily taken down. Lang was unsettled while Wilson was trying to berate Fury and Rhody about letting some stranger in just like that when he could be a danger to them all.

Tony snorted, wondering if there was even a way to stop those pesky portals Strange's using from opening wherever the hell he liked. Probably, but if it rhymed with tragic, he was going to tear his hair out.

Thor was not amused by Maximoff's magic tantrum but Rhodey said he _was _interested in speaking with the wizard and that he will be seeking the man out, which Tony knew wouldn't be very productive. Strange had promised not to speak with anyone until they had a chance to sit down and discuss how they want to go about this and whom they will keep of the old team. Tony hated the idea of working with any of them again, but it _was _him who was fighting for using them in this big bad fight coming to their doorstep. Strange was strangely - pun intended - against them even being _near_ Tony, which kind of had him stopping short and wondering why this man he had met only twice was so protective of him. He figured it might have something to do with watching over him for who knows how long; people tend to get invested in that sort of thing. But maybe the sorcerer _will_ speak with Thor? He wasn't exactly involved in the Civil War shtick. Who knows. Tony certainly doesn't.

Rogers, once he had recovered, had immediately tried to look for Tony and Strange, but since the sorcerer had let them go only _after_ Tony was out of the Compound - he had checked the surveillance tapes - Rogers had tried leaving the place, only to be stopped by Fury at the front door, where they had a shouting match about the house arrest the rouges were under. It was temporary and will last only until the Accords Council and the UN find them liaisons, which will probably be happening in a few days, but it was enough time for Tony to sort out some things without having to worry about any of them coming to bother him. Barns had reacted the best to the whole situation, just sitting it out and sighing in relief when the Winter Soldier hadn't made an appearance. Tony secretly suspected Strange might have had a hand in that.

On his half of the team, Peter had been excited at the prospect of the returned wizard but worried about Tony being alone with him. At least his spidey senses hadn't gone off and the kid had just amused himself by watching the rouges struggle. Rhodey had been tempted to go after Tony immediately but knew his friend could take care of himself. The genius knew Rhodey would never be so calm about it if he knew Tony was still healing in some places. Not even a full Vibranium reconstruction of his ribcage was enough to heal him. Tony knew he might have to resort to his last measures if he wants to be able to move or _breathe_ soon enough, but he had always hesitated, not wanting to become enhanced. His old daddy issues regarding Captain America were long gone, and while he _still_ had daddy issues regarding Howard, now it was more reliving every memory with his father and wishing there could have been more.

Vision had been fretting and worrying in a different manner from Rhodey and Peter, but he had stayed so he could shut Wanda up, something he had not been keen on doing. Tony felt sorry for the guy. He had really loved Wanda and probably still does, but he will never be able to trust her again. Their easy camaraderie was over and the more Maximoff pushed him into interacting with her, the more likely was the chance that Viz will just stop caring and get annoyed with her. Tony _wanted_ Vision to be happy but he doubted Maximoff had the capacity to make that happen, not anymore. She, just like Rogers did to him, had severely injured Vision, betrayed his trust and ran off without even checking up on him. Vision was young and naive but he wasn't stupid and he didn't want to be around someone like that anymore. It was why he had moved into Stark Tower with Tony when they returned from Europe.

Tony knew his youngest creation already had enough on his plate, but this conversation had to be had. Not just for the possibility of getting JARVIS back, that was only a part of it. And no matter how much it might matter to Tony, it was not the most important part. Tony Stark had never been selfish or self-centered, no matter what people seemed to think. His own needs and comfort were always the last on his mind, especially after Yin- after Afghanistan. And he knew - had known for five or so years now - that something bigger than him was at stake, that something was coming. That something happens to be Thanos and the Infinity Stones and Vision just so happened to have one stuck in his forehead. He deserved, no, _needed_ to know what was coming and that he was in danger. Besides, this procedure might save his life in the long run. If Thanos ever _did_ manage to get his hands on Vision and the Mind Stone, the android won't die from it being taken from him. He'll be out of commission for a few days or weeks while he recovers from whatever fight might happen - is _going_ to eventually happen, Tony was dead sure of that - but he won't be in shambled pieces, not mentally. He'll live. He'll just need a new power source and Tony knew one that will fit the energy signature and requirements of the Mind Stone perfectly.

But the procedure was Viz's choice and Tony won't try to talk him into it. It was up to Vision to decide what he wanted to do. Besides, Tony didn't want him to think that Tony didn't _like_ Vision and that he was just trying to get rid of him once JARVIS code is no longer within him. Viz had picked up too many of his characteristics and one of them included his doubt in his self worth. It was nowhere near as bad as Tony's, but the complex kind of came from the first week when Tony couldn't look at him or talk to him without near breaking down due to the fresh scar of losing JARVIS. He had thought he'd managed to get over it quickly enough, but apparently not _nearly_ quick enough if Vision still from time to time still had those thoughts. Tony had a bad feeling this whole Wanda thing had only made it worse.

Still not as bad as Tony's, though, thank god for that.

"You seem troubled, Tony." Getting Vision to stop calling him Mr Stark had been almost as impossible as getting Peter to drop it. It had taken him two years to manage it, but it was worth it. Viz was a friend, no, he was family. Formality had no place within a family. (JARVIS' 'Sir' and FRIDAY's 'Boss' may have started out like that, but they were kind of like endearments now, like an inside joke.) "There is something weighting heavily on your mind. Do you wish to speak about it?"

Tony scowled at the floating android, although it was more playful than anything else. "I thought we agreed no mind reading." Not that Viz could help it. Most of the time that it happened, it was because the thoughts were too loud for Vision to completely ignore them. He tried not to read the thoughts, but he still got an impression of what it might be or how that makes someone feel. When Vision went to apologize, Tony just grinned at him and watched his creation relax. "But yeah, you're right. And I actually wanted to talk to you. That okay?"

"Does it have something to do with the wizard?" The synthezoid asked curiously as Tony waved him over to his office where he sat when he actually bothered to do some SI business related work or had to take a conference call. Vision sat in one of the provided comfortable chairs in front of the desk while Tony perched on said desk, facing his companion. "What he said earlier today?"

"He insists he's a sorcerer, but yes, that what I wanted to talk to you about. And something else, which is mostly related and not related at all." He bit his lip, hesitating under the curious gaze of Vision. He hadn't lied when he said his bots were his children. He didn't want Vision to be upset. "I don't know if you have any of JARVIS' memory drives-"

"Some, yes."

Tony sighed. "In 2012, in New York, there was an alien invasion led by Loki." He began with information Vision was bound to know very well by now. They still speculated what had happened in New York these days, especially because of the Accords. "In order to win the fight, I flew a nuke into space through a portal created by the Tesseract. That's common knowledge." Vision nodded along to confirm it as such. "What people _don't_ know is what I saw on the other side."

"Tony?"

"There's an alien invasion coming, Viz. It's only a matter of time before the big boss of the Chitauri comes to Earth himself and there's only one goal in his mind and that is restoring balance to the universe through annihilation of half of the population _everywhere_." Tony rushed out, feeling the responsibility of it all pressing down on his shoulders like the nuke had while he was flying it into space. "And he's coming to Earth for the missing puzzle pieces he'll need in order to do it."

"The Mind Stone," the other replied, face and voice blank. Vision was truly a 'child' of Tony Stark, for no other would get it this quickly. "We need to destroy it, if that's the case. We should find a way to do it as low key and as quickly as possib-"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down there, Viz." The genius inventor cut in, stopping Vision's planning in his tracks. "That's not an option. As long as the other Infinity Stones exist, especially the Time Stone, no other Stones can stay destroyed and it will just be a waste of effort on our part. And the Time Stone itself can't be destroyed so that's not an option. Where'd you even come up with that crazy idea?"

"I've been thinking about it, especially since Lagos." The red skinned android admitted. "Ms Maximoff's power derives from the Mind Stone, so if we destroy the Mind Stone, she can't hurt any more people." Tony winced at the thought of the Scarlet Witch and what she had been doing with her powers. The security guards from the RAFT were certainly never going to be the same again, especially the ones that had committed suicide shortly after the Witch had been set free. Tony hated how the US government just brushed all of their deaths off as Ross' lackey that were going against government orders. As if any of the foot-soldiers knew whether the Secretary of Defense had the 'go ahead' from the higher ups. The families of the mentally tortured victims had first been cursing Tony when he came to personally apologize to them, to all of them, but they had ended up thanking him when he had insisted the soldiers be put through his BARF program and the men got a bit better. Tony had an extremely soft spot for soldiers, especially after the three soldiers in Afghanistan died trying to protect him. He will never try to distance himself from soldiers again if he is ever involved with them in any type of mission. The rouges' actions disgusted him so deeply Tony had been retching after he received the casualty reports.

He did his best not to think about all the dead civilians.

"The Mind Stone has already altered her on a cellular level, Vision. Her power is her own. You have nothing to do with her actions." Vision was definitely his creation. Tony could only face this reality when not directly examining himself, his selfdestructive tendencies. He won't ever stop them on himself but he won't let Vision think he was the one at fault for Wanda's actions.

"But what else can we do if not destroy the Infinity Stones?"

"For one, we can protect them and protect Earth." Stark replied with a confidence he didn't feel and a determination that hadn't left him at all since Gulmira. "That means protecting you and offering you official training in this mystic place called Kamar-Taj or something. Our sorcerer friend is tasked with managing the Time Stone so they are certain they can help you with the Mind Stone, too." Vision perked up, looking a bit hopeful at finally mastering a bit more of his power. It was why he and Wanda had been drawn to each other in the first place. The need to understand their powers and better learn to control them. "However, that part of the plan has to wait. We need to make contingencies in case the Mind Stone _is_ taken from you. Mainly making sure you can survive without it."

Tony took out his phone and activated the holoprojector that was built into it. The light show immediately formed the familiar shape of the Arc Reactor and Tony tried not to react to Vision's gaze switching from the actual reactor in Tony's chest and the one shown in the hologram. Vision had been there when Tony had had to put it back in but he, like everyone else, was still left in the dark about the Arc Reactor's other functions these days. No one knew just how much more the Arc Reactor was and Tony was planning on keeping it that way for as long as possible. He was still making some tweaks to it, modifications, improvements, upgrades, but Vision won't be getting a reactor like his. In fact, Tony is of the mind to implant three _different_ reactors into Vision, so if one failed, there were two backups to keep him alive and going. He was sure Dr Cho will gladly help with this endeavor. She may never look at Vision as her child - it was clear to everyone that he was obviously Tony's, even if it was never stated out loud - but she was fond of him and she knew he might need her for more extensive repairs. It's a good thing Helen and Tony were friends and he had her on standby, no matter where she was or what she was doing. The funding he gave her ensured that, too.

"A suitable power source," Vision agreed, studying the information on the elements that will be used for the Arc Reactor. Vision knew Tony can synthesize an element of even better energy properties than Vibranium, but he didn't know anything about the reactor itself or how to make said element. The Arc Reactor and Starkenium were not things JARVIS' memory cores let him access, apparently keeping Tony's secrets even when he didn't have any self awareness. Hopefully, that can be changed soon enough. Tony wants JARVIS back, Dum-E, U and Butterfingers were already over the moon at the idea of their younger brother returning and FRIDAY was shyly excited to meet her older brother and predecessor. It was now only up to Vision.

"I have something of a .. request of you, Vision. It's going to be a part of the process, partially, but also the not part I mentioned before." He squared his shoulders and prowled on when the android turned his attention back to his creator. "Doctor Strange, the sorcerer, has agreed to, under controlled conditions in a reality parallel to this one, use the Time Stone to help develop your ... processor, for the lack of a better term, by a little over two decades. We believe that once your processor reaches that age, should the Mind Stone be removed from your forehead, you will only be put out of commission for a little healing and recovery as opposed to what would occur now if such an event took place." Tony shuddered at just the thought of it. "Your mind is made of several complex layers that would fall apart without two poles, so to say, keeping them together, almost like a magnetic field." He explains without going too much into detail. This was just a preview, a summary, a briefing. If Vision agrees, Tony will gladly go into the atoms of the process with him. But he needed to know whether he should start making preparations or not.

"And those are the Mind Stone and," Vision pauses, as if judging Tony for any reaction he might have, almost afraid to bring up the name into the conversation. Tony hates himself all over again for never noticing how much he had screwed up. He briefly wonders if this is how Howard felt whenever he didn't act like a good father and isn't that thought just _terrifying_. "And JARVIS." It's a guess, an educated one, but a guess and it almost sounds like a question.

Tony sighs and nods. "JARVIS is the beginning and the Mind Stone is the end, if we can look at it like that. It feels more like a loop, so I can't really tell. Only thing I know is that those two entities within your own self are what is keeping you together. I did research when you first came out of the Cradle and I _know_ there is a way to separate JARVIS from your code, but I also knew that to do it safely without damaging either of you or making the Mind Stone lash out or keeping _you_ together after the procedure unless you reached the same age as JARVIS was when he ... Yeah." The genius sighs and rubs a hand over his face. "I didn't think of it as an option until Strange said he can safely forward your processor in time and I was still hesitant, but we found a way and we've covered all grounds. The decision is up to you, though. I don't want you doing this because you think you owe me or because you have to. We can go through with the procedure without taking JARVIS out or taking out the Mind Stone at the end or not taking it out or we can not do it at all. It's up to you, Viz. Whatever you decide, I will respect that. I just," he sighed again and stands up, coming to stand by Vision, placing a hand on his shoulder. Vision is watching him with blue-gray eyes that are so _trusting_ despite everything and Tony wants to shy away from that gaze. He doesn't deserve it. "I don't want you thinking I'm replacing you with JARVIS. You're Vision. You've made that very clear to me the day you were born. And I'm sure the two of you would get along like a house on fire, which is a very stupid saying but what the hell. You'll always be welcome here, Viz. You're family." Is it weird that he can so easily say those words to a mechanic being when he had had to pull them out like teeth when he had to say them to Rhodey and Pepper and Happy? At least Harley was easy enough to talk to about that shit, even though Tony doesn't really know _why_. His life is so strange. "You can come and go as you like and you will always belong here, okay?"

There's a stretch of silence that follows and makes Stark a little anxious, so he stands back up and makes to move away. "You just think about what you want to do and I'll just ... leave you to it-"

"Tony?" He pauses, especially when a hand tentatively grabs his wrist. Gentle. Like Vision is afraid he will hurt him if he so much as touches him. Then again, Vision was still suffering from how he had accidentally injured Rhodes, something Tony will definitely have to sit down and talk to him about because they were _both_ blaming themselves for it and Rhodey was getting sick of it, go figure. "I ... Thank you. For everything."

"Nothing to it, Viz. You're family and that's what family does. I think," he muttered the last part to himself, not noticing how Vision had stood up and was now standing proud and tall in front of Tony in the same way he had seen Tony himself stand before the press, as Iron Man.

"I would very much love that," the android says, momentarily throwing the engineer off until his brain connected the dots and he looked uncomfortable.

"You don't _have_ to."

"But I _want_ to." The red one said. "JARVIS has acted as my training wheels for long enough. I think he can teach me everything else I might need to know from _outside_ of my being." He smiles at his creator and Tony can't help but feel a double sort of affection coming from his youngest creation. Like there were two sources of it from a single body. From two minds. "Let's get JARVIS back, Tony."

Tony felt his world tilt and suddenly, he could breathe again.


	8. Chapter 8

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

It was interesting to come down the large staircase of the Sanctum and find a bound and gagged Thor trashing in Wong's magical hold while said sorcerer scowled impassively at the Asgardian as though holding him took no effort at all. Stephen had not been expecting so bizarre a sight but he was well beyond caring or reacting to things like this. He had only come down to discuss some of the protection runes he had been studying for the procedure of aging Vision's processor that would prevent what Stephen did with the Time Stone from tearing apart the fragile balance of this reality, but it would seem he would have to deal with the son of Odin first. He did a quick scan to see if the other Odinson was around, only to find that Loki was nowhere near the Sanctum, nor had he been, which meant Wong had not let him fall endlessly in a portal like Stephen had done the last time they met. He observed the scene before him for a few more minutes before magically marking his place in the book and closing it, wondering if he will have to call Stark and tell him tonight might not be a good time after all. He needed to prepare all the shields and runes before he lets the Time Stone start doing its thing. Mirror Dimension or not, time is not a relative thing but an absolute one. It's everywhere - except in maybe the Dark Dimension with Dormmamu, but that's not the point. Stephen has to make sure he won't affect _anything_ else other than Vision.

Thor's eyes lit up upon seeing him but Strange paid him no mind, instead arching an eyebrow at his fellow sorcerer. The librarian hadn't been the most pleased about the idea he and Stark had agreed upon, but even _he_ could see how a trained and Mind-Stone-independent Vision would be to the benefit of all, especially as he can continue _fighting_ even if the Stone is somehow taken from him, increasing the possibility of getting it back. He was stressed and he wasn't happy about it, but Wong had agreed to look after the Sanctum until Stephen can return. They had both been surprised by Stark's quick response, but Vision was partially an AI himself and could probably see the logic in it all. But that's not what was currently a pressing matter. One king of Asgard was.

Wong returned the arched eyebrow with one of his own and a huff. "He wouldn't stop pounding on the door and when I finally opened it to him to yell at him, he wouldn't leave or shut up."

"So tying him up was your go to solution?"

The Asian man only gave him an unimpressed look. "And gagging. Too much noise."

The Sorcerer Supreme just shook his head and waved Wong away to do whatever it was he did when Stephen had to deal with crazy shit like this. He untied Thor and let the gag disappear before turning his full attention to the god. He tried not to stare at the eye he was missing or his short hair, but Thor didn't even seem to notice.

"Magician, it is good to see you again." The blond greeted once he was in his feet again and Stephen sighed long sufferingly.

"If you must call me any one word names that means a magic user, please at least refer to me as a sorcerer." Before the muscle bound puppy of a man could say something in response, he interrupted again. "Now, what is it that brings you here?"

Thor eyes him like he expected Strange to start popping them from room to room like the last time he was here, and while Stephen _was_ tempted if it will make Thor leave sooner, he was also curious and weary as to what the man could possibly want now of all times. He was kind of on a tight schedule.

"You came to the Avengers Compound but left without saying hello. I thought a visit was in order." Thor replied with an easy going grin that was somehow supposed to reassure Stephen, only the Sorcerer Supreme could tell that it was forced.

"Cut the bullcrap, I have a meeting later today."

The Asgardian immediately sobered at Stephen's rather hostile tone, even though it was only just less pleasant and impassive than how he usually addressed people. "I was speaking the truth. Especially since you spoke of what sounded like a worrying discovery but discussed it only with Stark."

Ah, yes. The Avengers as a whole not trusting Tony Stark thing. He had almost forgotten about that. Not. Fourteen million six hundred and five futures and he'd had a chance to learn a great deal about his partner in protecting the Earth in them. _Including _how his former team had treated him. Which, despite him not being there for the 'Civil War', did _not _exclude Thor.

"I'm afraid that is because at this point in time, Tony Stark is the only one who can comprehend the magnitude of what is currently going on and what is to come. The rest of you," he said with a sweep of his arm as if to indicate the Avengers that were not there. "Have more pressing matters to concern yourself with. You, your highness, have a people to lead, if I'm not mistaken. Why don't you focus on that and leave my conversations with Stark between him and myself." He turned to leave but remembered something very important and called over his shoulder to the blond. "Oh, and do remember to mind your brother. One step out of line and I will be trapping him in a different dimension."

He heard heavy footsteps pound after him as he levitated back to the upper levels of the Sanctum where Wong had disappeared with the book Stephen had wanted to consult with him on. "Wait, wizard!" At Stephen's continued silence, Thor made to grab him on the shoulder, only to find himself face-planting when the overprotective Cloak grabbed his hand and wrestled him to the ground. "What sort of sorcery is this?!"

"That's the Cloak of Levitation, a very ancient, sentient artifact that's taken quite a liking to me." Stephen finally paused and arched an eyebrow at the big man being held down by a red piece of cloth like a professional wrestler. He crossed his arms as he lightly landed on his feet, not bothering to exert any energy on floating when he has no reason to. The Cloak usually does it because that's what it _does_ and it just takes Stephen along for the ride.

"I don't know what you plan with Stark," the Asgardian stopped his fruitless struggling against the ancient artifact in order to be heard. "But I will not let you use him."

That threw the sorcerer straight into confusion. "Use him?"

"Yes."

"That's rich, coming from an Avenger who has enjoyed the luxury of Mr Stark's fortune but has repaid him with, what, exactly? Abandonment? More trust issues? A bruised neck?" With each word that came out of his mouth, Stephen's voice grew colder. It wasn't easy, remembering all the futures that could have been, could still be, remembering the futures his own future self had seen. It wasn't easy because he _knew_ Tony Stark, more intimately than maybe even his best friend knew him. It was hard to keep that hidden, his _fondness_ for that man hidden. Stark was by no means perfect but he had always done his best for Earth. For the _universe_. It's hard not to like him when you know all that Stephen does. He might have compromised himself but he didn't care. Tony needed someone to be there for him. Needed someone who would _understand_ his burden.

Thor flinched at the recollection of how he had nearly strangled the genius during the whole Ultron mess and shame and regret colored his features. Good. Stephen can work with that. If he didn't feel regret for that, he might have just sent him to Everest to let him find his own way back to the States. After cloaking him from the all-seeing eyes of Heimdall. "My actions towards friend Stark are one of my many regrets. But the Mind Stone was not a thing for him to play with-"

"And yet you had given it to him to study it, ergo you had no right to be angry when the Scepter acted up and created something that was not planned for. But you were more concerned with blaming Tony than you were with trying to fix things."

"How do you even know of this? Friend Stark is not a man to discuss such private matters with strangers." The Cloak had finally let go and Thor was slowly getting to his feet, eying the levitating cape with a new sort of wariness. He had not thought it to be a threat but now he knew it was not to be trifled with. "And why go to him? What could you possible want of a man so narrow-minded that he refuses to believe in magic?"

"If this is a different way of asking whether I'm using him, the answer would be a firm no." Strange began as he fazed them into the same room where he had served Thor with beer the last time. The blond enthusiastically drank two thirds of the provided beverage, not complaining about the shift. For now. Stephen calmly took a sip of his tea before continuing. "And I can assure you, Tony's mind is in no way narrow. I've not encountered a more open-minded individual in my life and I've met _plenty_ of people." Both as a world renowned neurosurgeon and as a sorcerer, _especially_ as the Sorcerer Supreme. "He doesn't _not_ believe in magic. He simply tries to understand it within the perimeters that he's used to, limited as they are. Although, it's true that he doesn't like it. And as to how I know about the squabbles within the Avengers, that's something for me to know and you to stop asking about."

"But why go to him?" Thor repeated even as he watched in fascination how his glass was refilled on its own. You'd think a man whose brother - adopted or not - and mother were the best known sorcerers on Asgard would not be impressed by such simple spells. Then again, maybe he just liked beer.

"Because he's Earth's best defender." At Thor's startled look, Stephen chuckled bitterly. "All of you Avengers are the same, at least the older group. You believe what you see on the surface and don't go digging deeper, because why should you? You're obviously in the right. The whole planet is saying the same thing, so it _must_ be true. Never mind what you've seen with you own eyes. Because _anyone_ would go flying a nuke through a portal that leads into outer space without knowing whether they can get back. _Anyone_ would be under a falling flying city in order to disperse it into debris to stop global annihilation. It's something _anyone_ would do. Just for kicks and giggles, even. And that's not even touching the subject of terrorists and the such." He floated away his tea and leaned his elbows on his knees, bringing him ominously closer to Thor. "I know you come from a people of hotheaded, hotblooded disposition towards battle. I _know_ you are used to people jumping at the chance to join the fray and go into war. But that is _not_ how we on Earth deal with things. 75% of the people on Earth haven't even _seen_ a real gun in person before. They don't fight. They let others do the fighting _for_ them. And billionaires like Tony Stark? Who can _buy_ all the armies in the world with the amount of money and influence he had, has and will always have? They don't _do_ that. Why should they endanger their lives if there are others who can do it _for_ them? Tony kind of breaks all the norms by going out of his way so much to protect us all, but does anyone in the government give him credit? Rarely. In the Avengers? Never. You all just took all that he would give and more and he would still give you more, but you turn on him as soon as he makes the smallest of mistakes. And when he owns up to them, you sneer and ridicule him, whether you realize it or not. But when _you_ screw up ... It's still _him_ facing the consequences because he _knows_ you won't. So don't kid yourself anymore. You all may be threats but you better stop pretending to be heroes if you're not going to own up to your actions and face the consequences. Because _I_ will _not_ allow _you_ to use him anymore."

Thor was silent for a moment, the longest silence Strange had heard from him that was not enforced by an outside force, looking contaminative. Stephen left him to it, wondering if he had maybe gone too far and _knowing_ he had not gone far enough. Perhaps with Thor, it _was_ enough, but it won't be if he ever has to have this conversation with any of the rouges. Dr Banner might not even need such a talk, all things considered. He won't use Tony or leave him again. From what he had seen when he had interrupted their meeting, Banner had looked exceedingly uncomfortable to stand in a room full of Avengers but not be shoulder to shoulder with Stark. From what Stephen understood of the various stories he's heard in the futures he'd seen, Banner took comfort in Stark because Tony wasn't afraid of the Hulk and the Hulk _liked_ him. Thor could handle the Hulk if he ever went into a rampage, so it was easy to see why Banner wasn't afraid to be around him but Tony was just a man of flesh and blood and bones and yet he didn't hold an ounce of fear for the 'giant green rage monster'. It must have been weird not to have that usual reassurance. Thank whatever deity had finally got it through Tony's thick scull that he shouldn't take any of their shit anymore, even Banner's disappearing spells that have been leaving Stark in a panicked and anxious state whenever they happened.

"So you have appointed yourself Stark's protector?" The observatory question pulls him out of his own mussing and Stephen looks back at Thor. He mostly looks just curious, but there was something else in his deep blue eyes. Something challenging and something ... Something the sorcerer couldn't understand. Nonetheless, Stephen nodded and watched in confusion as Thor seemed to finally relax a little in his seat. "That is good. That is more than good. Stark has needed a friend in a long while, if what Dr Banner and I read is true."

"Oh, it is." He assures, trying to see what Thor's angle was. Well, at least he was told about the Civil War. At least he won't find Stephen's behavior towards the Avengers so odd. "I'd say it's even worse than the media is stating it, but it's not my place. If you wish to know the full details, I'd recommend asking those who were involved. A warning, though, if I may?" The blond man nodded, curious and confused. "Not all of them have even _read_ the Accords. They don't know what they were fighting against. I suggest you read the Accords and then ask both sides about what happened. And please be around when Dr Banner hears the full version, if Tony decides to tell him. We don't need the Hulk raving mad because of the stupidity of the rouges."

"Dr Banner has a better grip on his transformations now. That will not be a problem." Thor stated confidently and the Sorcerer Supreme arched an eyebrow, very much doubting that. From what he had seen, Dr Banner and the Hulk _both_ were _very_ fond of Tony. If anything, Hulk will react to the rouges worse than he had to Maximoff.

"Yeah, I wouldn't place any wagers on that. Not with what happened to Tony." He got an inquisitive eyebrow rise at that, but Stephen didn't elaborate. That was up to Tony to share. "Just be around if worse comes to worst. I can't have the Hulk hogging all of Tony's attention and not letting anyone else near him. It will interfere with our plans."

"And will you ever share those plans or will this be another Ultron?"

Stephen's expression darkened and he felt the Cloak puff up in irritation as well. If it had a face, it would be set in a fierce glare directed at the blond god and Stephen was glad for its support. Then again, it seemed to like Tony so it wasn't all that strange. But Thor's words set a fire of rage in him that Stephen had never felt before, had never had a reason to feel before. It wasn't like he had ever had a _reason_ to feel such rage. After the accident that ended his neurosurgeon career, he had been desperately searching for a way to heal his hands and there was only place in his heart for frustration. Same during those weeks at Kamar-Taj when he couldn't do the simplest of spells. He had felt helpless when the Ancient One was dying. And he had been determined and desperate both in every future he saw as he fought at Tony's side against Thanos.

But he had never felt this burning rage course through him. He had never been so _close_ to someone in his life in order to _feel_ it before. Because while he had felt some sort of love for Christine, she could never garner this amount of emotion in him. It could be because she didn't get in danger nearly as often as Tony always was and always will be. It could be that he had simply never paid her the right amount of attention. Not nearly enough to compete with Tony and the way he knew him. After all, no matter how much he had changed since the accident and how much they tried to spend some time together in the past couple of years, Stephen knew Tony Stark in fourteen million lifetimes and the _thought_ of how that incident _still_ haunts the man was enough to make magic spark at the tip of his fingers, crackling as ominously as thunder and lightning before a storm.

"Get out." He grits out through a clenched jaw and grinding teeth. At Thor's startled expression, he continues before the big man can say anything else that might actually make him lash out. "Get out before I lock you up in the Dark Dimension with Dormammu. And if I _hear_ even the slightest _hint_ that you've broached that subject _near_ Tony Stark," the way golden sparks and lightning played over his hands and Thor actually recoiled a little at so subtle a show of the immense dimensional energy Strange had so easily gathered. "You will find that you have the Earth's Sorcerer Supreme to deal with. And I _won't_ be as lenient as I've been before."

"I meant no offense-"

Stephen just pointed towards the entrance in a sharp motion and Thor nodded, getting up and leaving without another word. Stephen just stayed there, breathing and trying to calm down. The Cloak stayed ruffled until Stephen felt Thor leave the Sanctum - thankfully not breaking anything on his way down; he must have been _really_ shocked by Stephen's behavior. Stephen himself was a little surprised but not nearly enough for him to wonder at his actions. It was a wake up call for Thor, one which he dearly needed. He wasn't exactly the strongest on Earth as he had once thought. And he wasn't nearly as important as he had come to belied himself to be. Humility will do him good, especially as he was now to lead his people. It was time he got used to being told _no_. And it was about damn time he learned about the consequences of his actions.

If only it would be so easy with the rouges.

He sighed and finally slumped in his chair, not even blinking when Wong returned with the text he had wanted to ask him about before. The older sorcerer just nodded at the book he placed in front of Stephen and that was all the Sorcerer Supreme needed as confirmation before he started practicing the spell. He hopefully will have a sufficient amount of time to perfect it or else any small amount of would-be-could-be trust that he had managed to garner from Stark will be shot. And then the whole universe will be damned.

This _had_ to work _perfectly_.


	9. Chapter 9

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

"The spells I'm putting up around you are going to completely isolate you from the rest of reality." Tony listened carefully as Stephen explained to Vision that night. The sorcerer had arrived at ten o'clock sharp, exchanging pleasantries only long enough to introduce himself to Vision and assure Tony that he had everything ready. They've waited only five minutes for FRIDAY to establish a link with Vision that will let her monitor his vitals during the procedure and creating a channel that allowed that to happen had required adjustments to the existing isolating spells, which was why the procedure was pushed back almost a day after Vision had been informed and had agreed to the procedure. Now everything was ready and Strange was just walking them through what they should expect. "That doesn't mean just us. It means you will be sitting in a temporary pocket dimension completely set apart from the rest of the _multiverse_. This is needed in order to prevent the Time Stone or changes happening to _you_ from spilling out into our dimension or any other. It is the only way we can keep the balance of forwarding a single person or object in time by a little over two decades without creating a paradox or a tear in reality. I apologize in advance if this or the procedure itself brings you discomfort, but I can't put any dampeners on the spell to lessen it if we don't want to risk the isolation spells to have, as you would call them, glitches."

"I understand, Dr Strange," Vision replied calmly, gray eyes trained more on Tony than the sorcerer, as if assuring _Tony_ that he will be fine. As though it was _him_ and not Vision about to be exposed to a spell and power they knew almost nothing about. And they didn't. They only knew that it was labeled _magic_, that some of it uses interdimensional energy and that the most powerful of the spells to be used today will involve the Time Stone. Maybe it _did_ make sense that _Tony_ needed reassurance. He didn't fear much for himself but he _always_ fretted about those he cared for. It was his weakness. He sent a grateful and concerned look back at Vision, silently hoping this will all turn out okay.

"The rating of success is well over 98% so you have little to worry about the spell although you might need some time to get used to the sensation of not being so intimately dependent on the Mind Stone or on JARVIS' coding." Stephen continued, pretending not to have seen the silent exchange and Tony was grateful for that, too. Strange must have seen it because he had the cheek to _wink_ at him and the genius huffed.

"You believe there is a possibility that either JARVIS or the Mind Stone will wake up before I settle into the new protocols?" The Master of the Mystic Arts frowned at that before turning to look at Tony, Vision following his lead, both of them expecting an answer from the engineer. He thought about it for a minute before shrugging.

"I don't know how the Mind Stone will react - it's kind of unpredictable at the best of times - but JARVIS will probably come online in _some_ way. You'll register him as being there, at the very least. Can't say for sure, as I've never worked with something like this. The program I've given you, though, will activate as soon as the right amount of time has passed. It will separate JARVIS from your main code matrix and we can extract him after you get back from the glass dimension."

"Mirror." Tony just rolled his eyes at the correction and huffed good naturally, trying to not think about the procedure they were about to start. He'd already lost one - two, if you count what it had done to the original Ultron and his programming - child to the Mind Stone and he _couldn't stand_ losing another. Hopefully, this will all work out and Tony will actually have some luck. He was well due for it by now. "Is everyone ready?"

"As ready as we'll ever be." Vision nods to his statement and Stephen nods in return, taking a deep breath before the cracking sound of breaking glass fills the room and Stephen and Vision disappear from his sight. He panics for a moment, his paranoid and anxious mind already whispering of betrayal and a plot to just get their hands on his tech and on the Mind Stone before a portal has him taking a few steps back as it opens in front of him. The golden sparks of energy calms him somewhat, as the portal is vastly different to the one that the Tesseract had created, and instead cautiously approaches it to watch through it like a window.

Inside a mirror image of his lab, except the light seems kind of muted and it looks like you're watching everything through broken glass that isn't in the immediate reach of your hands, he saw Strange standing in front of a 'sleeping' Vision. The sorcerer was waving his arms around, creating complicated hand gestures that somehow looked both elegant and rough. Tony remembered the scars on the man's hands and the accident he read about, a hand instinctively going for his chest to tap the Arc Reactor. In a way, it was as humbling as Yinsen's belief in him had been, watching this man boldly challenging the world with his scars and defying the laws of common sense with who he had been and who he had become. Tony could see a fighter in him, a survivor similar to Tony himself. Hadn't he burned down all his weapons factories - only figuratively, mind you; they were simply re-purposed - and built an empire that helps people on its ashes? Hadn't Iron Man been reborn in the ashes of the Merchant of Death? A broken neurosurgeon had done the same, becoming the Sorcerer Supreme. That had to mean _something_ other than an ego-boosting title.

He watched in curious fascination he had never before had for magic as he has it now, seeing the complicated, intricate symbols and circles appearing in the air where Strange had waved his hands. They looked geometric and Tony busied his worried mind by calculating all of their angles and the trigonometry and _every_ other mathematical calculation he could think of before he went right to physics and chemistry, naming all elements that resembled the images he was seeing. It was therapeutic to do _something_ \- in this case, continue his search of how magic could be _made_ a science and not just the vague _magic_ \- as he watched and did basically nothing. It was all out of his hands now and soon, he won't be even able to see Vision. It was for the best, this way, as there was no possible way for anyone to interrupt the process, harm Vision or steal the Infinity Stone on his forehead. Definitely the best option.

That didn't make Tony feel any better about magic either way.

True enough, it was over in another few minutes and the whole thing had looked effortless, but it was now obvious to Tony that it had taken quite a bit out of the sorcerer as he was standing upright only thanks to his cape when he stepped out of the Mirror Dimension and closed it. He looked a bit haggard, but that was to be expected. Strange had said it wasn't the easiest of spells but that it was quite unbreakable unless the caster himself deactivates it. The safety measures assured Tony and he knew that nothing would happen to Vision, but he still fretted.

"FRI, how we doin', baby girl?"

There was a pause before the AI answered. "The channel seems to be working, Boss. I have clear readings on Vision. His processor is already a couple of months older. His vitals are steady. Everything is fine, Boss." Tony relaxed at the calm lilt of FRIDAY's Irish accent and looked over gratefully and concernedly at Strange, who really looked like he could use some sleep.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine," insisted the neurosurgeon, but Tony didn't need a diploma in medicine to see through his bullshit. Mostly because he knew from _experience_ how someone who desperately needed sleep looked like.

"Uh huh. Why don't you just lie down and get some rest. You look like you need it."

"I could say the same for you," the good Doctor threw back immediately and Tony would have smirked at finding someone with the wit and sass besides his AIs to match him, only he really _was_ worried about Strange. The man looked worse than him right now and that was saying something, since Tony was on night five of no sleep. Hell, his sleeping cycle had been shot long ago and only got worse the more PTSD he piled up on top of it. Putting the Arc Reactor back in had the unfortunate return of nightmares about an Afghani cave and a too soon lost friend, but it was a comfort in all other cases. Having it back meant he wasn't in Siberia and that meant more than he was willing to admit.

"Doc, I've been awake for well over ninety six hours and I _know_ I won't be able to sleep until the extraction process is complete tomorrow. Competing with that isn't exactly healthy."

Strange's head snapped up, his eyes sharpening and Tony recognized someone entering doctor mode instantly, fighting against a grimace. He'd seen it on Bruce and he'd seen it in Dr Cho's and Dr Wu's faces when they realized he was doing something stupid for his health again. He was sure that if JARVIS had a face, it would be stuck in doctor mode. It's like laser beam eyes zeroing in on the patient and silently berating him into compliance. That's what Strange's face looked like right now and, Tony realized, the man was just as stubborn as him, if his read on the man was good after their conversations. He was stubborn enough to actually make Tony sit through the usual bullshit. Fuck.

"Tony-"

"I can't," he interrupted him quickly. "I _can't_ sleep. Pour a box of pills down my throat but I won't be able to sleep. There's not a sleeping pill I haven't tried. I'm immune to half of them by now. This isn't a short term problem, Strange. And until I have JARVIS back, it's likely I won't even pass out. I'm too worked up right now to sleep. But _you_ look dead on your feet. You should rest."

"_Tony_," the man said with exasperation and said man tilted his head a bit when he heard barely restrained hints of fondness in the sorcerer's tone. That's odd. He usually gets horror or something. "A power nap won't hurt. At least sit still for a while and just close your eyes. They look bloodshot enough that someone might think you're an addict on withdrawal." Now he sounded concerned. Tony wondered what was up with this man. Was it just his doctor side acting up or was he actually _worried_ about what was essentially a _stranger_? Then again, these freaky wizards have been watching him for a few years, right? Maybe it comes from that. "Just ... try to _relax_ for a while, okay?"

"Are _you_ going to sleep?"

"Someone has to keep watch over this pocket dimension." Strange countered. "But don't worry, my body will get all the sleep that it needs."

"You lost me." Tony admitted with a bewildered blink or two. In response, Stephen just chuckled and sprawled out on the couch in Tony's lab, the one Pepper had insisted he put in since he refused to leave the lab for _days_ at a time, usually due to anxiety attacks. He felt a pang at the thought of the redhead and what they could have had, but he knew not to push it. Pepper deserved better and it would seem that _they_ were better off as friends,anyway. She was thriving and Tony had been conquering one scientific field after the other. He had two ready PhDs waiting to join the other ones,he had two more on standby and he was still writing three more papers, one of which was for the field of prosthetics. He was still researching that. He had to upgrade Rhodey's again some time soon. Maybe Strange can help with that? He _was_ the best neurosurgeon there is. Just because he doesn't practice anymore doesn't mean he can't _consult_ on such matters. "Are you going to explain?"

He nearly got a heart attack when Strange's body went completely limp on his couch, running over to check on the man even as he ordered for FRIDAY to do various medical scans. But all that came back was signs that the taller man was sleeping. "Although I'm detecting a strange energy signature above you, Boss. I can't identify it but it's there and it's moving. It's now at-" He gave a yelp of surprise when the cracking of glass to his left sent him sprawling in the opposite direction, suit reacting to his distress and a gauntlet forming on his arm-

A transparent, blue-glowing image of Stephen Strange, surrounded by fucking cracked glass in the middle of empty air, raised his hands in a surrendering/placating manner, seemingly more interested than distressed at being on the receiving end of an Iron Man gauntlet. "Relax, it's just me. Well, my astral form, to be precise, but still me." Tony gaped at him and he chuckled awkwardly. "Right. I guess I should have given you a warning."

"You _asshole_!" Tony thundered at that, startling both Strange and his helper bots, Dum-E, U and Butterfingers looking up at their creator curiously, beeping in question. "Don't _do_ that! I have a heart condition." The ex neurosurgeon looked apologetic immediately, but Tony walked over whatever apology was trying to leave his mouth. "I thought that spell did you in! Give me a _heads up_ next time, or I swear to whoever is listening that I _will_ ... " He trailed off, fighting back the memories of the _last_ surgeon who had been so still in front of him. God, he needed to stop making parallels between Strange and Yinsen. Especially as Strange was more like himself in some important aspects than he was like Yinsen.

"I'm sorry." Stephen said soothingly, coming to hover right in front of him with a worried look on his face. "I didn't mean to scare you. But I'm fine. This is just me exiting my body so it can rest and I can still be aware of the world. It's how I improved so rapidly and went through all the books in Kamar-Taj so quickly. I wish I had it while studying in medical school."

"Can you affect the physical world like this?" Tony asked curiously, wanting to reach out and refraining from touching the astral projection, just in case he somehow messed up the magic. He wasn't even sure if he could but he didn't exactly have the best of luck most of the time so he didn't exactly want to risk it.

"Only to a certain point. I can touch things but I don't think I can touch people. I'm not sure how it works, because I once trashed an operating room even though I could pass through solid objects." Stephen furrowed his brows at the same time Tony did, both of them trying to solve the puzzle. Tony was a little surprised the Sorcerer Supreme wouldn't know something like that but he figured Strange was as human as the rest of them. Not even he was all knowing. Not all answers could be found in books.

"Well, FRIDAY says you are registering to her like a mass of energy so I would take a leap and make a guess that it's actually leaked, residual energy that wrecked the room when you passed through the objects, not, well," he indicated at the bodiless apparition. "You. Some of it was released when you hit or passed through an object and it did what all energy does when its put in such a situation. It turned to kinetic energy and moved the object. The more energy you used, the further the object would be moved." Seeing the way Strange was staring at him, Tony crossed his arms over his chest defensively and frowned at the sorcerer. "What? It was only a hypothesis! I may not know magic, but that right there is basic physics. Laws of action and reaction-"

Stephen shaking his head had him stopping mid rant, brow furrowing again when the man chuckled. "Sorry. I didn't mean to appear judging. It's just that ... Well," he smiled sheepishly at the shorter man. "I guess I'm trying to say that I never would have thought to explain it with such common knowledge. I would have searched for answers in the Mystic Arts, not physics most people learn in the eight grade. It never would have occurred to me to explain it with Newton."

"That's 'cause your mind's used to thinking in terms of magic. I like science." Stark shrugged casually. "And science can explain everything."

"How about a dimension completely out of time that touches no other dimension yet houses an entity that could consume the universe if it were to leave said dimension where it is confined?" The former doctor challenged and Tony shot him an unimpressed look.

"Are you trying to trip me up with the multiverse? Because that's not going to work. I've supported and studied that theory a _long_ time ago, buddy. I still do, so you're not getting me with it."

"That doesn't explain the dimension I've asked you to explain." Stephen pointed out with a challenging look in his eyes, which Tony met equally and unflinchingly.

"Give me the parameters of it and I'll do it." He said confidently, knowing he _can_ do it, given some time and the most basic of information. "In fact, give me _any_ data regarding that which you call magic and I will crack it like a code and explain it to you in terms even someone as helpless as Rodgers can understand or in terms that would confuse the shit out of Einstein himself." Again with the strange look on Stephen's face (pun not intended). Tony shifted under that scrutinizing gaze, looking around the lab before meeting the astral projection's eyes again. "_What_?" He growled. Or at least he hoped he did. It was rare he was on the receiving end of such a gaze. Or maybe not, now that he thought about it. Other scientists and random people have leveled that look at him whenever he said something unexpected yet completely amazing. Not all that rare, considering who he is. But Strange wasn't the usual kind of person he dealt with. He was even _stranger_ than Thor and Vision and that was saying something. He shouldn't have been able to affect him so easily.

"Hm? Oh, nothing. You just reminded me of something my master once told me." Tony did his best inquisitive look and it worked. "She once told me to think of magic like coding for reality. With a little tweak, a good sorcerer can manipulate reality as easily as a hacker or programmer can a computer program." He hummed in thought, studying Stark for a moment. "I think you would have made an excellent sorcerer."

"Me? Don't kid yourself. I'd probably break reality. I tend to be very creative with my coding." Tony said with a snort. Ultron was more than enough proof for his words, even though the hostile, killer vibes Ultron ended up possessing had never been part of Tony's design. Still, he should have built in some defenses, made Ultron better. And yet he knew he had done the best that he could. How was he supposed to know that some cosmically powerful rock was going to screw him over?

"No, I think you'd make it better. It's just that no one would appreciate your efforts." He nearly flinched at how close to home that hit but he was saved from replying when FRIDAY pipped in.

"Boss, um, you have a ... guest in the common room on your floor. He says it's urgent you meet him immediately, Boss, and he's not taking no for an answer." A pause. "Not even for the danger of leaving a particle accelerator activated in your absence." There was an angry, condescending air to her tone that seemed to impress Strange, judging from the arched astral eyebrow he sent Tony's way.

Tony frowned. That either meant he was dealing with someone willful enough to ignore the dangers of an intense, powerful laser being left unattended or it was someone _ignorant_ enough to ignore the same dangers. Especially as the particle accelerator for the Arc Reactor is stronger than the others. Starkenium, discovered by Howard Stark and rediscovered, created and improved by Tony Stark, was made of far sturdier stuff than anything else on Earth. Or maybe even beyond, seeing as it had absorbed the lighting generated or at least conducted by the god-like metal that was Uru. The particle accelerator Tony used was not a toy to be left unattended and while FRIDAY _can_ turn it off in his absence or Dum-E could do it manually if there was code transferring problems, it was still dangerous to leave it fully powered and ready to go. Out of all the people that Tony knows who would personally come to him for something at the moment and who would _ignore_ this rather dangerous scenario for the sake of dragging him off to some stupid ass conversation, he knows only two who would _insist_. And only one of them can call a bluff like this one.

"Go." He jumped when he heard Strange speak up behind him. "I can keep things in order down here just fine. If there's anyone coming down here, I'd sense them long before they get _near_ the lab, especially like this. I can wake up in a second and be ready. I will keep Vision safe."

That wasn't what Tony was worrying about initially but it still calmed a part of him and he nodded. "Thanks." He said sincerely.

"Think nothing of it." The sorcerer waved him off with a small quirk of his lips. "Now off you go before whoever it is decides to try and break in and gets an eyeful of unconscious wizard."

"So you _do_ admit to being a wizard!"

"Shut up, Tony." But he was smiling and Tony was grinning and he felt great. Never mind how tired he was. God, how long has it been since he had smiled so sincerely? So genuinely? Feels like a lifetime ago. Since before Ultron, that's for sure. Before ... Just before. He liked it. He hoped he'll smile more, especially if their plan _works_. Even though they will have _lots_ of more planning to do. Preferably after he catches some well deserved Zs. So he just waved at the hovering astral form of Strange and exited the lab, only to yelp when something soft and warm settled over his shoulders. Looking down, he found it to be the good doctor's red cape, snuggling around him for a second before settling to resemble itself, flaring dramatically around him without the need of wind. He looked back to arch an eyebrow at Stephen, but most if not all of the humor from before was gone from the man's face. "The Cloak of Levitation should go with you, for protection's sake."

"Shouldn't it stay with you then?" But Strange only shook his head.

"I've put up enough magic wards around this place should the effects of the Time Stone leak through that this room is officially the most magically _and_ technologically safe place on Earth. Except maybe the Sanctums and Kamar-Taj, but they have a completely different purpose and an entirely different form of protection to go with it. I'll be perfectly safe."

Tony still made a face at the thought of his science-heaven being invaded by magic but he wouldn't be opposed to it remaining, if Strange forgets to lift it. There _are_ other magic users out there that might try to break in for ... whatever reason they might have. It could come in handy and Tony's never one to turn away useful things. "If you're sure."

"I can disguise it into a coat or jacket if you wish? You and I will know what it is but no one else will see it like that unless they _know_ what it is." Tony thought about it but shook his head no. Strange just shrugged. It was no skin off of his teeth. The cape- Cloak seemed pleased by his answer, judging by how it caressed his cheek. He short Strange a look but the man just shrugged. Figures.

"I'll see you later, then."

"Try to get some sleep!" The ex neurosurgeon shouted after him and Tony rolled his eyes. Still, the warmth of the Cloak and the pleasant smell - tea, old books, incense and something else he can't quite determine - that clung to it was actually tempting him to cuddle it like a teddy bear, bury his face in it and sleep for the next three days. Maybe he'll do that to the lullaby of JARVIS eventually exchanging snarky comments with FRIDAY and maybe Vision while his other bots are beeping in the background tomorrow. But it would seem he still had work to do today. A smile tugged at his lips at the thought of at even as he ascended in the elevator to the penthouse.

It fell right off his face when he saw who his visitor was.

Fuck.


	10. Chapter 10

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

"Stark." His visitor greeted as soon as the doors of the lift opened to show him, standing in front of the big windows that showcased the entirety of New York in all of its nightlife glory, the city lights like little stars on all buildings, tall and small. With his dark skin and all black clothes, had there not been lights around him that his form was blocking, he would have blended in to the night. That, and FRIDAY was keeping the man in a spotlight so as to make sure he doesn't try anything out of her sight. Smart girl.

"Nick." Tony greeted back, wary and _very_ grateful to be having the Cloak with him now. Fury was not a man he'd want to face alone. Even though his armor was literally a second away from him, he'd rather not test Fury's old spy skills if he could avoid it. Also, he'd rather not kill what was essentially one of the last links to his family. Sharon Carter, his Aunt Peggy's daughter, didn't count. They'd never been close, especially after Peggy came down with Alzheimer and Tony started visiting less because _she only saw Howard_ and Tony couldn't take it. Sharon even grew to resent him a little. That was probably why she helped Rodgers. That or some misguided thought that Aunt Peggy would do the same. Maybe she would. Tony didn't know anymore. He didn't know if he should trust _anyone_ anymore, at least not those of the higher ups in SHIELDRA, as people now called it.

Because it had been Peggy who had identified his parents. Whether it was an attempt to spare Tony the pain of knowing his parents were _brutally murdered_, or she was trying to keep Howard's involvement in SHIELD a secret or if she was covering HYDRA, Tony didn't know and didn't care. He had let SHIELD run and ruin his life enough. Fury wasn't very welcome here anymore, either, since he _must_ have known about it, about his parents, about _Peggy's lies_. And Tony was _done_ marching to Fury's pipe.

"You have some explaining to do, Stark." Fury said as though he were talking to a misbehaving boy, expecting him to fess up whatever information Fury wanted to hear. Obviously, he had forgotten who he was dealing with. Obviously, Tony had _allowed_ him to forget for far too long now. Allowed all of them to think that they can walk all over him. Siberia was a wake up call. The possibility of _JARVIS coming back _was a wake up call. _Thanos_ was one hell of a wake up call. He didn't have time for Fury's bullshit. He had an alien invasion to prepare for.

"So do you, Popeye. So why don't _you_ start and maybe I'll indulge you later." Tony shot back, finally walking into the room, on high alert. The Cloak around his shoulders billowed behind him in nonexistent wind, mocking Fury in its own way and taking on a more threatening 'stance' when one dark eye fell on it immediately. Judging by the incredulous look that stole over his face for a few seconds, he had recognized the red cloth for what it was, Strange's Cloak, and was having a mini mental breakdown at the thought of Tony Stark welcoming anything magic related. Tony ignored him and took a deliberately well poised, elegant and entirely purposeful seat that made him look like he was lounging in a throne rather than a comfy armchair. The cloak positioned itself so he wasn't sitting on it, giving it place to maneuver should there come a need.

Fury snapped out of his shock impressively quickly. Damn spy training. At least FRIDAY definitely had a picture of his face, of that Tony was sure. "Throwing your lot in with random wizards now, Stark?"

"Throwing _yours_ in with wanted criminals and fugitives, Nicky?"

The one eyed man scowled at him darkly, moving closer so he was standing ten feet away from Tony. He glared in annoyance as the spotlight followed him. This was turning our funnier than Tony thought it would be. Then again, annoying Fury had always been his favorite pastime in Avengers meetings and debriefs. "They were wanted criminals and fugitives only because of your Accords, Stark. And they've been pardoned. They're not criminals or fugitives anymore."

"Not on this side of the Pacific, no. But Russia, Germany, Sokovia, Romania and Niger all want their heads on a plater. Particularly Rogers' and Maximoff's." The businessman in Tony took over, which was probably for the best in this unexpected meeting. Storm or bullshit, businessman Stark can take it all in stride, whether he'd slept in the past five days or not. "Except Russia. It wants Barns and Romanoff dead. Or behind bars for the rest of their lives. The mood changes depending on how much the US or Wakanda piss them off. And the Accords weren't _mine_. Not until relatively recently, anyway, when I rewrote some of the unfair clauses and made them more superhero acceptable. They were a draft for a set of laws to ensure accountability upon the people who have the power to both save and destroy the world. Had Ross not stepped in, we could have negotiated far better terms but the President allowed him to play his own game so we were screwed. And had Rogers not said 'fuck you' to 117 countries, they wouldn't have been fugitives/criminals. They're only back because Rogers is America's golden boy and T'Challa pulled some bullshit I'm almost sorry I missed. The President thinks giving pardons will ensure him another mandate. I'm rather skeptical but I won't get into that. I'd rather just wash my hands of you lot altogether, but I fear for the world too much to let that happen."

"You think you were in the right?" Fury asked incredulously. "Not even _Banner_ would support you. Not with Ross involved."

"Ross is gone now, isn't he?" Tony arched a judgmental eyebrow. "Had been for a while now. Because I made sure of it. Like every _other_ time, too. I just had to put up with him for a while before I got rid of him. He has quite a bit of red in his ledger. And various other colors, too, but let's not go there now." He smirked at the silent spy. "What? Did you seriously think I was fighting for a better future of the Avengers just to make them attack dogs for Ross and his ilk? Far from it. The Accords were meant to ensure no government could ever use the Avengers for their own agenda. The Avengers were to be called out onto the field only if a greater threat than the military could deal with surfaced, like Loki, Ultron or the weird things that have been happening around the globe as of the last few years. AIM, HYDRA, the Mandarin and the Ten Rings, those were the things meant for us to face. The Avengers were not going to be used for anything else. I just needed a bit more time to gather the last bit of damning evidence to jail Ross for life, no matter his connections. But Rogers and his consorts," both he and Fury snorted at that. "Decided that 117 nations were wrong and they were right and they didn't even _read_ the damn thing! What was worse and still _is_, Rogers didn't think about anything or anyone else because he heard accountability and understood it as Barns being sentenced for being HYDRA's little assassin."

"You seem to be taking _that_ rather well, all things considered."

"I've dealt with greater bullshit than Rogers can dish out but he's starting to climb the ladder of bullshitiness each day he breathes." Tony waved off the hidden inquiry about his emotional and mental state of wellbeing regarding the death of his parents. It wouldn't be a good idea to leave them alone in a room together, because the urge to punch Barns in the face with the Hulk-buster armor was still _very_ strong, but Tony didn't hold it against Bucky, what he had done as the Winter Soldier. Unlike _some_ people *cough* Wanda *cough* he wasn't a willing HYDRA ginny pig and agent. "If I had a problem with Barns, he'd have been a smear on that bunker wall long before Rogers could throw the first punch. I don't want Barns dead. I just don't want to spend much time with him until I bury that memory away sufficiently enough not to follow the instinct of punching him in the face." And he says 'sufficiently enough' because he will _never_ be able to completely erase the image of his parents' death from his mind. Curse of his edict memory. "I don't know if any of you follow the news these days, but I _have_ been fighting for Barns not to be killed by the Soviets. And he'll go to court for the things he did in Bucharest, Germany and Siberia and nothing else. In those times, we know _for sure_ that he was acting of his own accord, not as the Winter Soldier. Maybe they'll be lenient enough to lessen his sentence if he gives up Rogers, since it _was_ Rogers who dragged him into that mess, but don't expect less than ten years. Germany refused, _gleefully_, to let SI pay for the damage done by Rogers and Barns. And Romanoff. I'd expect a hefty bill in your mail if you decide to take them in. They're not welcome back in the Avengers Initiative."

"Ah. I was waiting for you to pull that card." Was it just him or did Fury sound ... pleased? "I'm glad I made the right choice. I knew you'd do good for the Initiative. You might need more members, though. You, Colonel Rhodes, Vision and that spider kid are just not going to cut it, Stark."

Tony stared at him, flabbergasted. "Wait, are you telling me you are _not_ here to try and shove some crap about togetherness down my throat and get me to take the rouges back?"

"Should I be?" Fury fired back, arching the eyebrow of his good eye at him. "Because I am well aware of what you've been doing, Tony, and I couldn't have handled that shitshow better myself." At his still shocked expression, Fury actually chuckled and sat down across from him, no longer going for imposing instead of settling for tired but casual. "If I hadn't of thought that you'd be good for the Initiative, I would have scrapped you in the start, not left you as a consultant. But I didn't make you a member, either, because I didn't _want_ to 'shove some crap about togetherness down your throat' because that would _blind_ you to the world outside. It blinded Barton. It blinded Romanoff. And _they're_ highly trained spies meant to keep tabs of lots of things and make decisions based on that. But all they heard and all they saw was the Avengers 'doing the right thing' and being 'prevented from doing the right thing by the Accords' and they forgot that there was a world out there. A world they were supposed to _protect_. I'm rather disappointed in them."

He sighed, shaking his head and then rubbing his forehead as he sprawled back into the comfy couch. Tony only now noticed - possibly because of the lack of hair to indicate otherwise - that Fury looked like he had aged more than the three years they've not seen each other. He wasn't sure if it was the stress or something else but a pang of pity, sympathy and worry hit him all at once. Fury, for all his secret keeping, quite possibly didn't deserve to deal with the mess that were the rouges.

"You, on the other hand," Tony snapped back to attention when his companion continued. "You _saw_ the world and the turning tides and you tried to address the needs of the people. Had you had the support you needed, Ross probably wouldn't even have happened. The world sees Iron Man and they _know_ that they will be safe. People don't run away from where you are. The Avengers ... Well, not so much. I think people trust the _Hulk_ more than they do Rogers and his lot. You did what you could and needed to do and those _morons_ just did what they _want_. In the end, it showed. You're loved all over the world while more than 117 countries _hate_ their guts. And you're absolutely right about the President and T'Challa. The King won't be earning himself and Wakanda any favors, Vibranium or not. Not when they saw him standing up for the people _you_ stood against. The world fears _you_ and respects _you_ far more than they do some isolated little country from the jungle. They might have some mean tech but I don't think they can stand up to Stark missals and there _are_ still countries that have some of your weapons."

"Yeah, they had a contract that I can't go against." Tony says, wincing. He had tried _so hard_ to get all his weapons back and melt them into something _good_ but even he can't get them all.

"My point is, the world doesn't want _you_ as an enemy. As far as _they_ are concerned, Wakanda can go fuck itself." They both snorted again at that. "You did good, Stark. Better than I could have hoped. Thank you for keeping the original ideal of the Avengers Initiative alive."

Tony looked away, feeling some of the tension leave his frame. Not all. There were still things he wanted to discuss with Fury - his parents, Peggy and Sharon Carter, the New SHIELD - but that can all wait. "Thank you for trusting me with it. I wouldn't."

"Because your one stupid genius, you know that?" Fury chuckled, somewhere between fond, exasperated and sad. "You don't mess up things that are _important_, Stark. You just think that you do. You throw yourself into it completely and forget to take care of yourself, which is what worries me at the moment." Fury looked him over from head to toe and Tony felt the Cloak bristle, wrapping more tightly around him. Drawing Fury's eye to it, too. "That and whatever you're planning with your magical new friend."

"You'll be informed in due time, Nicky. Just not right away. You have your plate full as it is." Tony crossed his arms over his chest, face going blank.

"You might need help."

"I have it."

Fury frowned. "You don't know anything about this man, Stark."

"I know that he understands the threat I've been warning everyone about and I know he is taking me seriously." He glared at Fury and the Cloak suddenly flared itself up to look larger and more intimidating. "I know that he will help. I know he won't just brush me off and I know he _believes_ me when I tell him how serious it is, which means more to me than you can possibly guess. And I _know_ he won't hurt or try to control or use me in any way, unlike my _last_ team who welcomed a willing HYDRA agent _mind rapist_ into our midst with open arms. So, yeah. I know enough about him to not need any help from _you_, Nick, other than keeping those idiots out of my way."

"So that is all it takes to have your trust? To say you were _right_?" Tony wants to snort at how disappointed Fury sounds. Now _this_ was an act. Whatever genuine interaction they had been having not five minutes ago was over. Probably dried up Fury's yearly truth supply. He says what he says but Tony can practically _hear_ Romanoff's lessons about 'people not catering to his fragile overinflated ego'. How she was allowed to do psychological evaluations and character profiling, he doesn't know and he no longer cares. He'll be keeping a sharp eye on New SHIELD soon enough. FRIDAY will have a _lot_ to learn from her big brother. JARVIS can tear SHIELD apart in a couple of clicks. God, he hopes his and Strange's weird plan works. He missed his co-pilot so much. FRIDAY is his baby girl but JARVIS ... He can't even begin explaining.

"I don't need someone to say I am right. I _need_ someone who will _see_ that I am right and who will react accordingly. I, unfortunately, so far have two people who believe me but don't know what to do about it and one person who _always_ believes me and was trying to help me. Now I have one more plus Vision to add to the list. My life is about to become a hell of a lot easier since I will have the _support that I always needed_ from the _team_ I always _deserved_. And I don't trust him."

"You don't?" Fury asked him skeptically, studying him with his one eye.

"Not yet." Tony confirms. "Ask me again two days from now. The answer might change."

"This isn't a joking matter, Stark." The director says in a stern tone of voice which only makes Tony snort. "You _really_ know nothing about this guy. The only thing you know is that he can use magic and I thought, with your experience, that you'd know better than stick around someone who might try to brainwash you."

"Oh, so I should go back to my old team - who insisted I step back, by the way, because I didn't agree with their new _recruit_ \- where they stand by as gods choke me, witches mind-rape me and my own supposed teammates and friends stab me in the back or attack me with Vibranium shields to the chest?" Tony challenges, standing to his feet, the Cloak of Levitation adding to the flare and dramatics all on its own. Fury was up on his feet instantly as well, eying the magical artifact, the minute twitch of his hand displaying a desire to reach for his gun.

"I wasn't there before. I'll keep them in line, now."

Stark sneers with a glare on his face, startling Fury with the rage and hatred he sees flashing there like a blazing fire, right there in his eyes. Tony is pleased with the reaction. Good. Let him remember who he was dealing with. The moniker 'Merchant of Death' was not exactly a recent name he had been called. There's a reason Russians didn't dare try another pissing contest with the US while he still made weapons.

"Yes, because _that_ makes me feel _so much better_, Fury." The near growl that leaves his mouth surprises them both. "Did you _know_? Of_ course_ you _knew_. Why would I even ask? Which brings one question to light."

"And what would that be?" God, he hates how Fury's trying to play innocent or ignorant or stupid or whatever this is. It almost makes him want to just boot the bastard out of the Tower's windows on a rocket and let him hope he doesn't die.

"Were you and Director Carter in on it? The hit? HYDRA? The falsification of my parents' death certificates? If you _want_ in on this, you have to give me _something_, Fury, because I don't trust you as far as FRIDAY can throw you." He glares at the fidgeting man, now _his_ hand twitching to be in a repulsor gauntlet. The rage and disgust that he felt upon seeing what his weapons were doing in Gulmira was back. Only it wasn't directed at himself anymore. It was directed at another part of his so called extended family. God, how can _two_ of his three honorary uncles/godfathers be such dicks?! Only Jarvis was cool but Jarvis was _always_ cool and he was the only one who had ever showed he cared for Tony. Maria tried and Howard didn't know how. Tony recognized some of himself in his father's actions - pushing those dear to him away, never opening up, keeping secrets, snapping every now and then, but somehow always making sure Tony was taken care of in this way or that. When he has JARVIS back, Tony plans on doing a throughout investigation of all of his father's SHIELD related work. It was possible he had been suspecting something will happen and he hadn't wanted Tony involved. Obadiah, on the other hand, had always been more concerned about profit and Tony's designs instead of Tony himself. And Fury had made himself perfectly clear that he only saw Tony - and everyone else - as assets. Sharon had never cared and now Tony was doubting Peggy had, either. He'd seen how good a liar a spy can be. "And don't think I might need you. I can gather terabytes of information in half the time you could get one byte."

"That's classified information-"

"That's been on the Internet, dipshit." The genius interrupts, having enough. "The likeliness of you having sealed it away completely is, like, 1.3% on a _good_ day. And something tells me it hadn't been a good day when the race for all your classified information started. By the way, you can thank Rogers and Romanoff for a thousand twenty seven dead agents and fifty dead families and over hundred dead civilian friends of your agents. We couldn't extract them all." It still haunts his sleep. Not nearly as persistent as Afghanistan and not nearly as chilly as the wormhole. Definitely not as fucked up as Siberia. But it's there and it's making his life hell every other day when he thinks about all those people he hadn't managed to save. He thinks to the blank and the angry and the anguished faces of the agents as they follow the proceedings through various private sources or the media and he hates how he had to tell them who they lost. Stark Industries at least had a place for them. If SI suddenly happens to have its own _secret_ \- like an actual fucking secret - spy network that no one other than those most loyal to SI know about, it's for the best. Tony hadn't asked for it - he had given them jobs they would best be suited for and new identities, trying to keep them bellow the radar - but they had formed it for him anyway. He had somehow earned their loyalty. It had become so much easier to keep out other corporate spies when you have, like, a hundred spies at every branch.

"That wasn't SHIELD's best moment, but we needed HYDRA flushed out. I only expected Romanoff and Rodgers to understand that only the brass was HYDRA with maybe fifty active agents worldwide, but they ... " And the man looked almost as haunted as Tony felt for a second. The way he faltered said it all. Fury doesn't stutter or hesitate or falter. "I guess I expected too much from them. Romanoff had obviously gone back to the Red Room setting and listened to whatever Rodgers said and we both know now that we can't trust him to be rational where HYDRA or Barns are concerned."

"Zemo played him well."

"Zemo played us _all_, all too well."

Tony shook his head. "Zemo only cared to fuck up Rogers. Taking down the Avengers was a bonus. But, you know? He was right about one thing. An empire that is destroyed from the outside can rebuild itself again and can rise to new hights." He crossed his arms and shifted his weight to one leg. "But an empire toppled from within? That's good and dead. Like the Roman Empire kind of dead. West died long before East. And it's just like that within the Avengers."

"Stark-"

"I won't cover for them anymore, Fury. They're on their own. T'Challa wants them back, SHIELD and the President want 'em back? Then that's their deal. _Your_ deal. The Accords don't, the Avengers _don't_. Let West take care of itself, they do have their shield to stand behind and they can leave it or be blindsided just as easily. But that's their problem. East has an armor and we _will_ stand united while not actually sharing a single brain cell between us. You want a team of people who always agree with their leader? HYDRA had more influence on you than I originally thought." He turns around to leave, not even looking over his shoulder when the Cloak prevents Fury's hand from landing on his shoulder in an attempt to stop him leaving. "You have two days to give me an answer, Nicky. Before I find out on my own. And if you _knew_ and if you _tempered_ with it, I will _shut you down_ and _burn you to the ground_ like I did the Ten Rings and my weapons factories. This is the only warning you will get." The elevator opens for him and he sends a silent thanks to his ever loyal FRIDAY. He should probably spend tonight and tomorrow on updating his servers so it can contain the awesomeness of both JARVIS and FRIDAY. JARVIS takes up a lot of space. "Get out, Fury. You've overstayed your welcome."

It feels good to watch the elevator door close on Fury's face. It feels like closure. It feels like freedom.

It was time to get to work.


	11. Chapter 11

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

The twenty four hours seem to both fly by and to drag themselves on for eternity as Tony anxiously waits for the spell to be over, leaving his workshop only to go to the bathroom and to get something to eat or drink upon the annoying nagging of a certain astral projecting Doctor Wizard that spent most of the first fifteen hours sleeping on his couch. At least physically. Like he said, the astral projection of the man was bothering him with basic human necessities for the first fifteen hours before the man woke up and started bothering him like a normal person would, in his own body. Tony could pout and whine and grumble all he wants but he was only greeted with a deadpan expression and an impassive voice that brooked no argument about him eating or drinking something. Something _other_ than coffee, the heathen had insisted.

By that time, Peter had decided to swing by, apologizing about some glitch occurring in his web shooters long before he walked into the room, only to freak out with excitement upon seeing Strange levitating in the air while reading a floating book and sipping tea casually as though he did it every day. Maybe he did. What did Tony know. The man _did_ look up from his book when he heard KAREN and FRIDAY start exchanging data readings on the Spider-man suit and the glitched web shooter, arching an eyebrow at Tony. He had obviously not expected so many AIs around. Tony didn't point out he had especially made JOCASTA for Happy after the Mandarin incident that landed him in the hospital and SARAH for Rhodey after the Civil War. He was wondering whether to let FRIDAY go with Pepper and help her run SI and keep her safe or to just give her ANA, who has a badass business mode and a no bullshit disposition since he had kind of grown attached to his baby girl. He loved all of them, of course, but FRIDAY was with him every day. It would be _impossible_ not to get attached.

He wondered how JARVIS will handle being surrounded by all these lovely ladies when they get him back.

Should he get an AI for Harley, though? It would probably be for the best. Someone needs to keep an eye out for that kid.

Peter's energy was all over the place, just like him, asking both Tony and Strange all sorts of questions, raging from science to magic, from mechanics to biology, from artificial intelligence to the nerve system. That, unfortunately, soon led to Stark vs Strange snark contest as well as a genius vs genius conversation as they defended their own arguments and burned the other's into the ground. It was quite possible Peter had learned more about the very fabric of existence in that one two hour long conversation than he could have in years of schooling lessons, but the two geniuses didn't even notice until FRIDAY announced that the modified web shooters were repaired and ready to go. Parker had seemed to deflate when the adults suddenly blinked out of their haze and put several feet of distance between them from where they had come into each other's space during their debate. And after he learned what they were doing, he was even more reluctant to leave, _begging_ to be let to stay for Vision's and JARVIS' return. So they ordered pizza and Tony actually decided to pick Strange's brain about paralysis and spine trauma and braces so he can update Rhodey's braces to be even better and Stephen happily obliged.

By the time said man walked into the room to see why the Tower was so quiet, Peter was watching in amazement as Tony and Stephen made several technological and medical revolutionary jumps, playing with holographic designs and calculations that seemed far more complicated than rocket science and that he couldn't follow for hours now, KAREN and FRIDAY giving their own hypothesis and calculations and simulations and charts every now and then. Rhodey took one look at the tired but glowing Tony and the three robots playing with a flying cape and just sat down in front of the two geniuses and asked questions that, somehow, spiraled into new designs and medical questions the two geniuses _refused_ not to answer. Peter and Rhodey were left dumbfounded in the face of the information both men were spouting off of the top of their heads, never pausing, never hesitating, always cross-referencing and calling up various research papers they've read over the years with the ease of a computer. KAREN and FRIDAY and the newly joined in SARAH, the brilliant Stark AIs that they are, kept pace.

Rhodey had never met a _human_ who could keep up pace with Tony as well as this wizard dude could. Might be a bit different if Tony was well rested but this was, unfortunately, Tony's default mode in the past several years and Pepper, Rhodey and Happy hate it. Maybe being friends with an actual doctor will help? Especially since this doctor didn't seem so keen on running away like Banner had. Rhodey doesn't blame the guy - the fear of what the Hulk can do and all is a pretty big and rational fear, after all - but yeah, he kind of blames the guy. For leaving Tony. For leaving the _blame_ to all fall on Tony's shoulders. Strange, at least, seems to be trying to steer Tony away from thinking such stupid things, like blame. At least when it was all directed at himself.

Rhodey could have kissed the man when he actually managed to persuade Tony not to blame himself - at least for a few minutes - as to what happened to Rhodey during the airport fight.

The hours ticked by and they all somehow got roped into the prosthetic business, adding ideas to both the commercial designs and the designs that were meant for Rhodey only. Peter had suggested that they make the things in several colors, Rhodey had suggested making ones maneuverable, light and fast enough to let injured soldiers wear them so they don't have to retire before they want to. Tony and Strange were talking about permanent braces and temporary ones that can be taken off and have somehow ventured into talks of implanting the braces into limbs that are supposedly going to stay immobile forever otherwise, which brought Barnes' metallic arm to the table. Quite literally. Which brought more neurosurgery discussions and actually took them from the realm of possibility into the realm of probability which, knowing Tony Stark, will be entering the realm of reality within a couple of months. It was definitely awesome.

They called Doctor Cho to ask her about synthetic skin. They consulted with an imprisoned Maya vie video chat about Extremis, which Rhodey had protested but _knew_ had to be done or else the implant surgery for the forever crippled might just kill them. Strange even called up his sorcerer buddy Wong and asked whether _magic_ could help in the healing process since he wasn't exactly keen on training _more_ casual sorcerers until some Mordo-business, whatever that was, was taken care of. Tony soon went into the materials, which is when FRIDAY alerted them to a change in Vision's systems. There was still half an hour to go until the spell will be finally over but Tony exchanged a glance with Stephen and the Sorcerer Supreme smiled.

"Don't worry. Everything is going exactly as planned. They're just slowly waking up and finally separating themselves."

"And the Stone won't act up?" The engineer asked worriedly, well aware of both Peter and Rhodey watching the exchange with interested and wary expressions (in Rhodey's case) on both their faces. "We kind of don't need a second Ultron outbreak."

"Tones," Rhodey called, apprehensive. But Tony couldn't pay much mind to his best friend at the moment. He was still waiting for an answer.

"Even if it _did_ start acting up, I've placed enough protective wards against it to ensure it can't cause _any_ sort of damage. They'll both be safe and there won't be a second Ultron."

"Tony." This time, said man looked over to the Colonel, since his name was said in a much sterner voice. "What are you two talking about? What's this about Vision? What stone? Why are you talking about Ultron? What were you two even _doing_ in the first place?!"

"Honey-bear, relax, please." Tony says while raising his hands in a placating manner. "It's not as bad as you think. We just put Vision through a time spell that will let his processors develop enough that removing two of his founding layers won't kill him."

"And _why_ would you need to remove his ... What do you even mean by _founding layers_? What is that? Is that a thing?" The dark skinned man looks to Peter, who shrugs helplessly, then to Strange, who only arches an unimpressed eyebrow at him. "Someone better explain what's going on right now!"

"That's what he was doing before you started freaking out."

"Wizard, I have dealt with enough sass from Tony a better part of my life. I don't need _you_ contributing to it as well."

"I haven't even _began_ with the sass."

"Do you want that explanation or not?" Tony cut in when he saw War Machine's pilot about open his mouth and argue back. Thankfully, they both fell silent and Rhodes sent an expectant look his way. Tony hesitated for a moment when he saw Peter looking at him curiously, expectantly and _trustingly_ before deciding the kid may as well be an official Avenger, Homecoming fiasco or not. "Right. Truth and explanation time. Fun."

"Tony-"

He raised a finger to stop whatever Rhodey or Stephen were about to say, rubbing at his eyes while the two looked at each other in surprise at having spoken at the exact same time. The bots and the Cloak had stop playing by now, Dum-E, U and Butterfingers zeroing in on their creator and beeping confusedly. The three AIs were silent.

"I guess it's only fair that you know, as we are _all_ undoubtedly going to be dragged into this shit eventually. So, summarized version?" He gets two nods from the still not-in-the-know part of the room and a shrug from Stephen, the sorcerer leaving it to him to deal with this how he saw fit. Which he was definitely grateful for because there was a great big chance Rhodey might freak out and Tony knows how to deal with the freak outs he causes for his best friend. Freak outs caused by others? Not so much. "Right. You all remember New York? Me flying a nuke into space through a fucking portal?" His audience nods. "Remember the Tesseract?" Rhodey nods while Peter frowns in confusion. "Yeah, that thing's powered by the same source as Loki's scepter was. You know, the Mind Stone in Vision's forehead? Yep. An Infinity Stone, the Space Stone to be precise. Well, there are six of those bad boys and a mad man called Thanos is looking to collect them all and use their infinite power to wipe out half of life in the entire fucking universe. And there's two on Earth."

"What the hell, man?"

"Yeah, I know, sugarplum. It sounds ridiculous but it's true. I've been telling you about this for five years. I just didn't know his endgame or his name. But the Chitauri that we've faced, in New York? That's just a part of his army, Rhodey." Stark says seriously, looking his best friend in the eye. "It's one of the reasons I always stuck out my neck for the Avengers. Earth can't afford to lose them. The Accords were a way to protect us if Ross and Rodgers didn't fuck it all up so spectacularly. So here we are now, the rouges on house arrest and us ... Well, Doctor Strange and I figured separating Viz's main processor from the Mind Stone might save him if Thanos comes for the Stone. It would also ... allow for Viz to shed some ... layers."

"Tony." The way Rhodey says it hurts because there was _understanding_ in his voice that actually shouldn't be there. Sure, Rhodey knew about Edwin Jarvis and where JARVIS actually comes from, but he didn't fully understand just how much of a _kid_ JARVIS was to Tony. It's easy to visualize with Dum-E, U and Butterfingers, since they act like children, but JARVIS had always appeared mature and in control since Rhodey met him. The British sounding AI had only ever showed weakness in front of Tony and the bots and no one else. At least he was a quick study and soon became as all knowing as he had seemed from the beginning. Rhodey met JARVIS when JARVIS was already a week old. Painfully young yet painfully intelligent and advanced well beyond anything of _this_ time, let alone well over twenty years ago. Rhodey understood some just what Tony had went through when JARVIS uploaded himself into the Cradle and out came Vision, but he didn't understand all. Not enough.

"Vision is fine with it. He felt it was unfair J had to sacrifice himself for Vision to live and he said he wanted his own memories."

"_Tony_," Rhodey repeated, sounding almost as pitying as he had when he had first met JARVIS and heard him speak. He hadn't heard an autonomous, sentient if artificial person. He had heard the voice of a dead man and had thought Tony had gone off the deep end. He sounded just like that.

Strange seemed to pick up on the tension and the tone and frowned, stepping in. "It is actually for the best. One more ally, physical or digital, can only help our fight. And if what I've been hearing about JARVIS is true, then we will be regaining a right worthy, helpful ally. He'll come in handy, at the very least."

"It is. He's the coolest. No offense, FRIDAY, KAREN, SARAH."

"None taken, Colonel." The three female AIs said casually, probably aware that JARVIS was a world above them, in experience if nothing else.

"And it will leave Vision independent of the Stone."

"And immune to hacking. Vision and I did some simulations with FRIDAY. The coding he inherited from JARVIS and Ultron, as advanced as it is, can still be hacked. Taking out JARVIS will force the rest of his processor to become a ... a _brain_, or at least a lot like it." Tony tagged on to Stephen's explanation, both geniuses looking at Rhodey but the man only had his eyes for his friend. "As long as he depends on JARVIS and the Mind Stone as his beginning and his end, he can't be _himself_ fully. He's supposed to learn from them, not them be a _part_ of him. He's more than JARVIS and he's more than the Mind Stone. He's me and he's Bruce and he's just a little bit of Ultron. But he's _us_ by learning from us. He's not _us_. That had to happen for his 'foundations', too, Rhodey. Otherwise ... "

"He's vulnerable." Rhodey finished. "Not adaptable enough."

"He's afraid of hurting people like Ultron did." Tony tells them all for the first time. It was something Vision had sought him out especially to speak to him about. Tony had nearly had a heart attack when Vision had phased through the wall of his lab, a week after the Sokovia mess. "That's why he doesn't fight back until he really has to. He understands that the Mind Stone is powerful and he's afraid to hurt people with it."

The good Colonel winced at this. "And then Germany happened and proved him right. Shit."

Tony just nodded, looking away from his friend and to where he knew Vision to be in a dimension beyond this one. "He thinks a little separation from it will help him control it better."

"Will it?"

"It's possible."

"But you don't know?"

Stark shrugged, running a hand through his hair tiredly. "Maybe? I can't tell. We're not going to _remove_ it, we're just ... making sure it _can_ be removed without tearing him apart, okay? I lost one child to that thing. I won't let anything happen to Vision because of it."

"Can we destroy that thing?" Peter pipes in, looking between the three adults. "I mean, won't that solve this whole thing once and for all? Destroying just _one_ if all six are needed to wipe out half of the universe?"

"Not as long as the other Infinity Stones exist." Strange repeated the same response he had given Tony before. "And you can't destroy them all. In order to destroy an Infinity Stone, you would have to expose it to a power of a similar signature with a similar effect and identical power. That method might work on several of the Stones - mostly through the various use of the Mystic Arts - but there's two Stones I'm pretty damned sure we can't replicate the powers of."

"Which ones?"

"I'm gonna guess the Time Stone and the Soul Stone. From what I understand so far, magic can easily replicate the effects of the Power, Reality, Space and Mind Stones." Tony shrugged at the stares he got. "What? It's only logic. _How_ do you hit the Time Stone with the power of _time_? Or how do you utilize the power of a _soul_?" He paused, thinking. "Actually, aren't astral projections a spiritual phenomenon? Obviously you can do things that are soul related with your hocus pocus magic tricks. At least there's one more Stone that we can destroy."

"How did you even figure that out, man? Why is my life so weird?" Rhodey whines, running both hands over his face, a little bit agitated.

"You researched on astral projecting?" Their resident sorcerer asks curiously at the same time, eying Tony in a way he couldn't quite discern.

"I usually research anything that somehow becomes a part of my life." He replied in a casual tone. Rhodey shook his head while Stephen tilted his to the side in thought and confusion.

"I didn't see you doing it, though." And that would be weird to him, since they have practically spent the last day in each other's presence.

Tony gestured at his tinted glasses on the work table. "The wonders of Tony Stark science. I made them months ago." He watched as Strange put them on and blinked when FRIDAY showed him whatever it is that she chose to show him. "Those and I have an implant in my ear so I can never lose contact with my AIs ever again." He tried not to think about being alone in Tennessee, all those years ago when the whole Mandarin shtick happened. Those were not happy days. "FRIDAY just told me about everything she found."

"Well, you're not _wrong_." The sorcerer said as he took off the glasses and handed them over to the excited and curious Peter without comment. The teen was immediately "Awesome!"-ing them, leaving the adults to talk business while he played with the highly advanced tech. "I'll have to look into it, though, whether we have any strong enough spells that in any way affect the soul." He shook his head. "It might not work, even if we find something in the library. Infinity Stones don't exactly work within the 'normal parameters' of either science or magic. We could do all we can and it could still do no good in the long run."

"It's still worth a shot."

"_If_ we ever get our hands on another Infinity Stone." Tony and Rhodey agree with each other, nodding to indicate they understood. "How many of those did you say were on Earth again?"

"Two, as far as we actually officially know, but the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj are detecting energy readings very similar to the Time Stone somewhere in Norway." The Sorcerer Supreme answered with a frown and Tony snorted, plopping down on the couch Strange's body had slept on throughout the night.

"I'm ready to bet half of my fortune that Reindeer Games has it."

"Only half?" The other genius arched an eyebrow, at some point have started to levitate and ignoring Peter's gushing and the way FRIDAY seemed to be attempting to explain it in some scientific way to the other two AIs who had not seen him doing it so far.

"I'm not an idiot to wager all of it. Pepper would kill me!" That startled a laugh out of the small group, which eased some tension out of the room after their serious conversation but was cut short when FRIDAY pipped in.

"Boss, my scanners are indicating that Vision is stirring. He's ready to wake up. The program is ready to start working."

A worried Tony turns to Stephen. "This spell ... It won't change his mental state or anything, right? His personality?"

"No. It only affects the processor, or brain as there aren't exactly spells that specialize on technology." The ex neurosurgeon reassures. "It's actually why we could attempt this in the first place, the way Vision's 'thinking unit', let's call it, was constructed. If it had just been an ordinary processor, things might have been altered and the Vision that came out of it would have been a completely different Vision. But because it was constructed so similarly to a human brain, the spell could be applied to him."

"What kind of spell are we talkin' about?" The curious Colonel asked finally, studying intensely the interaction between his best friend and their new ally. He obviously saw that Strange was ... more familiar with Tony than Rhodey had expected. Tony was as oblivious as ever to it but Rhodey had taken up to seriously studying the people around his friend after Stane and then Natasha's infiltration of SI. He didn't want a repeat. Next time, it might not be a 'friendly' spy that tries to get access to his friend's life and vulnerabilities. Strange didn't seem like that type. Quite the opposite. He dealt with Tony with the same finess he, Pepper or Happy did. Maybe even better, as he always knew what to say to calm the genius' ever racing mind. He'll have to keep an eye on him. There was something Strange was still hiding and Rhodey didn't want another Steve running around, only with a different way to spell his name. Tony wouldn't survive another one.

"There are several, actually, but the one I am talking about is a sort of isolation spell. The Ancient One, the previous Sorcerer Supreme of Earth, used it when she had to use the Eye of Agamotto," he pointed to the necklace laying against his chest innocently but actually contained one of the six most powerful objects in the multiverse. "On someone who was gravely injured or on a small scale on something else but didn't want to affect the rest of the world. It's a strong spell that prevents the affects of the Time Stone to spread beyond the restraining runes and wards that are put in place. As it is, I both isolated Vision from the world and every aspect of _him_ individually from the effects that the Time Stone will have on his _processor_. It's a bit more complicated than the way I am explaining it, since part of the spell specifically isolates the brain and its various functionalities, including a person's character, temperament, mental health and maturity, knowledge, memories and so on and so forth. In short, the spell prevents from changing Vision from who he is to something that he might be."

"I didn't follow much of that but I guess we have to trust you on this." Rhodey grumbled. He had finished MIT and was an actual rocket scientist, but he had managed with a _lot_ of studying and sleepless nights. He wasn't like Tony - not that anyone really was - whose brain did cartwheels and who knows what other sort of gymnastics when he understood things like that so easily. He had obviously followed, since he had exhaled a relieved breath.

"I will do my best not to betray such trust." Stephen replied just before FRIDAY pipped up again.

"Vision is ready, Boss. Time is up."

Stark looked towards Strange with a nervous glint in his eyes before he gave the sorcerer room and took a fee steps back. Rhodey and Peter did the same, confused and curious, giving the magic man some room. Strange slid on a strange ring (pun not intended) on two of his fingers and stood in the middle of the room. He started waving hands in the air and sparks ignited like a fiery wheel, spinning in circles and opening an entrance into a dimension identical to their own. Cracked glass appeared around the portal and through it, they could see Vision, just waking up as what looked like residue magic faded away, gold and green leaving like smoke trails until they disappeared completely. The android shook his head and blinked a few times before smiling at the good doctor and Tony who was peeking from behind him, wobbling slightly on his first few steps as he exited the rune circle and then the Mirror Dimension, entering their own. Strange let the portal collapse in on itself and watched as Tony fretted silently and from a distance over Vision.

"Vision."

"Doctor." The red man replied, voice the same, intonation the same, the look on his face the same as always. Stephen relaxed slightly. It seems to have worked, at least the isolation spells did.

"How are you feeling?"

"Lighter ... " Vision answered after a pause. "Like ... Like a great burden has been lifted off of me. I can't quite explain it right. But I feel _free_. From _this_." He taps the yellow stone embedded in his forehead. "I feel only me."

Stephen smiled fully at the android, happy that at least the man seemed content with the change. "That's good-" He cut himself off, however, when Vision suddenly floated over to the main processing matrix in the lab and plugged his finger into an in-port socket. A frazzle of electricity shook his frame and Stephen had to catch Tony when the smaller man lunged to save his creation, catching him barely in time to prevent the man from getting electrocuted. Thankfully, Vision seemed just fine and the current of electricity faded back into the machine in front of him in seconds.

"Download complete." He told the room at large after a few seconds and pulled his finger free. He waits in silence and the holograms around the room flicker for the briefest of seconds. A screen pops up on the main work bench, showing a swiftly filling bat - as to be expected of Stark tech. Only the best. The bar disappears as soon as it is full and there is a crackle in the speakers. Silence. And then-

"Sir? Why is there an Arc Reactor in your chest again?" A familiar voice asks over the speakers, one that hasn't been heard, not like this, in far too long.

And Tony Stark breaks down in relieved laughter and tears of both joy and sorrow.


	12. Chapter 12

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

Stephen has found that JARVIS was a valuable ally and a formidable opponent all at once and he was not ashamed to say that the AI scared him a little.

Artificial Intelligence was for so long thought to be nothing more than science fiction, and while FRIDAY, KAREN and SARAH - all whom he's met only recently - were indeed AIs and had their own individual personalities, the entity that was JARVIS knocked them right out of the water. As impossible as it seemed, JARVIS was more than real and the difference of twenty something years of active experience versus FRIDAY's meek two years and KAREN's and SARAH's few months was as obvious as the tears of his creator as the man broke down in front of a kid, a stranger, his best friend and three AIs upon the return of his greatest creation. And as grateful as Stephen was that they had managed to get JARVIS back, Tony's breakdown tugged painfully on his heart, especially as no one seemed to know how to deal with it. Vision was frowning in concern but not approaching the man or saying anything, just standing as silent support among the cheerily beeping bots until they noticed their creators distressed and fell still and silent as well, only their cameras moving around as they zoomed in on their creator, worried. Peter was freaking out, not knowing what to do with his mentor in such a state and FRIDAY seemed to be trying to calm him down. The other two AIs remained silent, completely out of their depths as they very rarely interacted with either their creator or any other human being. Rhodey and Peter were far from used to having AIs in their lives - not directly in _his_ life in Rhodey's case; he was more than used to dealing with the AIs in _Tony's_ life - so they mostly talked to them in their suits, unlike FRIDAY who often just chatted with her creator and anyone who wasn't freaked out by her omnipresence in Stark properties.

Rhodey looked like he both knew and didn't know how to handle a crying Tony Stark and had this constipated look on his face as he tried to figure out how to deal with this. Stephen didn't blame him. Rhodey knew Tony most of his life and you would think he could handle this. But not even Stephen knew how to deal with _this_ breakdown, even though he had gotten to know fourteen million versions of Tony Stark. And that was just in the futures he'd seen in his own future. How strange that sounded. The point was, he doubted Rhodey had ever had to deal with Stark this vulnerable, just like Stephen had never seen him in such a state, either. And it physically _hurt_ to watch and listen to this _brilliant_, _strong_ man sob like this and _know_ you can't help him. Not the way he needs. You don't know this side of him. It's like being punched straight into the heart and Stephen clenched his fists hard enough until they hurt. He had not felt this helpless and useless since the accident that took away his hands and his career. He had not been this lost since the death of the Ancient One.

JARVIS, the brilliant intelligence that he was, seemed to have known just _perfectly_ well how to handle his creator. He had started repeating a stream of random information, repeating it over and over again in as soothing a voice as though he were whispering to a skirmish, skittish horse until the sobs died down and Tony was left a shivering mess, tears still streaming down his face. Vision at this time moving, ushering them all out of the lab and asking FRIDAY to give them some privacy until she was called upon. FRIDAY went with them while JARVIS locked the lot of them out, surrounding Tony in a protective cocoon of technology that they had no doubt would keep him safe. They heard nothing from the two for the entirety of the night but FRIDAY and the other two AIs were evidently contacted. KAREN and SARAH only briefly left their charges while FRIDAY was permitted back to her creator's side, leaving Peter, Rhodey and Stephen to ask Vision about his time jump experience. Stephen spent most of the time switching between doctor mode and Sorcerer Supreme mode, both of which came as easily as breathing to him by now, and he was soon satisfied that Vision was okay.

At the asscrack of dawn, FRIDAY called Vision back down to the lab. A few minutes later, they saw the red android carrying Tony out of his workshop and towards where his bedroom must be, the engineer finally asleep after almost a week. Strange finally relaxed at that and was about to leave when FRIDAY informed the three of them that rooms have been prepared for them to spend the night and that, should they need anything, they can just contact one of the AIs. Since she was particularly insistent, Stephen called Wong and informed him he will have to stay one more day before hanging up and happily following FRIDAY's instructions to the prepared guest room. Peter was being led away by KAREN's gentle voice while Rhodey seemed to know where his room was perfectly fine and was informing SARAH to cancel his early morning plans and postpone his afternoon plans. From what he had heard, Rhodes planned on coming back before dinner and sticking around for two days, probably a good idea after such an emotional display on Tony's part. Stephen wished he could stay as well but he had a Sanctum to protect and a research to start. He figured he'll visit in a couple of days, after he does some Sorcerer Supreme business to appease Wong before the other sorcerer comes to drag him away.

Figuring it was a thing to worry about in the morning, Stephen had simply fallen into the bed on top of the covers and let the Cloak act as a blanket. He woke up well after lunch time and found that Rhodes had left and that Peter was munching on some food in the kitchen when he came back into the common area. There was no sign of Vision. The teen waved at him enthusiastically, thankfully polite enough not to try and talk with his mouth full. Stephen just nodded to him and started searching the cabinets for some tea, completely disregarding the impressive, possible handmade coffee machine on the counter. It probably what caught the AIs attention.

"Can I help you?" Stephen jumped at the sound of the distinctly robotic, confident, sophisticated voice that reminded him of Vision. Only the android definitely sounded more human. Not because this voice lacked emotion or anything like that, it simply had that ... robotic vibe to it. Add to that that it came from virtually out of nowhere was enough to startle Stephen into almost creating a shield right then and there. "I didn't mean to startle you, Doctor Strange, and for that I apologize. You just appeared to require assistance."

"I was looking for tea." He explained awkwardly. He had never felt awkward around FRIDAY before. Maybe he did feel awkward right now because there was a not so low-key judging, assessing, studying, wary tone to the male AIs voice. Then again, he had never been around FRIDAY with Tony in such a vulnerable state as sleep. "I take it you must be the famed JARVIS?"

"There is some green tea in the third cabinet from the left, on the third shelf. And yes, I am indeed Just A Rather Very Intelligent System, or JARVIS for short." The AI said, tone still not even close to friendly. Stephen wondered if JARVIS had been scouring the net and found out just what had happened during the Civil War and was simply overprotective of his creator. "And you are emitting intriguing amounts of displaced energy. Care to share, doctor, how a neurosurgeon of your caliber became a, as Colonel Rhodes had jokingly expressed himself, 'hobo wizard'?"

And here he thought _he_ was an asshole. And sassy. Leave it to Tony Stark to make an AI who can possibly surpass them both. And let's not forget the fact that the AI could do such a precise reading on him. Because magic, or dimensional energy, _was_ always going to cling to a sorcerer and it _was_ displaced because it didn't belong in _this_ dimension. Just how _sophisticated_ were Stark's scanners that he can _tell_ the difference between normal and dimensional energy?

"Thank you." He said first as he took the tea and boiled the water he put in a cup with magic. He ignored Parker's "Wow!" and put the packet of tea into the water, letting the leaves leek out color and taste. "It's interdimensional energy. Kamar-Taj teaches its sorcerers to draw on energy from other dimensions to preform spells. And I am sure that you have already done a throughout background check on me so you must know about my accident. I thought this was a way to cure my hands but I ended up learning I was born for the Mystic Arts and was burdened with a responsibility I could not shed. Those with the power to change the world must use it responsibly and that includes protecting it."

"With great power comes great responsibility." Peter added in a voice that laked its usual cheer and Stephen looked over curiously at him.

"Indeed."

"That does not, however, explain your involvement with Mr Stark." Ah, there it was. As he had expected. Only it came out far more hostile than he had anticipated. Perhaps he had imagined JARVIS to be a lot like Vision, but it was _very_ obvious how different the two were. Then again, JARVIS was there with Tony through his most dangerous and destructive stages. He had seen the worst of the worst. He was not as naive as young Vision was. And he was rightfully protective and concerned for his creator. The Civil War must have been the first thing he saw or researched or maybe even FRIDAY told him. Hell, maybe _Tony_ opened up to him and told him! From the sounds of it, JARVIS was probably the only one the genius would tell something like that to. And if JARVIS was acting like this, it was obvious the trust was not misplaced in the slightest.

"I believe you, if no one else, are well aware of what he fears." Stephen says in way of answering, subtly glancing at the teenager, who was pretending that he wasn't listening. "It just so happens that I have come across this knowledge recently, when a former college decided to go after him and I tried to figure out why. I have come to both offer my help in preventing Tony's greatest fear from becoming a reality and my protection against a man I should have made sure couldn't cause problems for others."

"I see. And Sir is involved in all of this _how_?" The sorcerer blinked. He thought he was pretty straightforward and clear with his intentions. All he really wanted to do was protect Tony because it will protect the _universe_ and maybe catch Mordo along the way of stopping Thanos.

"Are you asking if I seek to use him in some manner or expect something of him? Because if you are, I am greatly offended." He even huffed for good measure. "Don't you think that if I wanted to use him, I wouldn't have offered him a way to get _you_ back? From what I understand, you could start a nuclear war right now and Kamar-Taj would be your first target." If he could find it. It _was_ protected from both magical and technological scanning.

As if reading his mind, JARVIS popped up a hologram right in front of him, nearly making Stephen drop his cup of tea. He _did_ drop it, but the Cloak caught it, when he realized he was staring at a presentation of Kamar-Taj in Kathmandu, Nepal, even the market there. It was a live feed, either by satellite or ... Stephen didn't even know. An Iron Man suit? For all he knows, both were a possibility.

"I believe you've made your point," Stephen says warily, still staring at the should-be-secret sorcerer sanctuary. How it was found was still a mystery to him. As was JARVIS' potential mind reading skills.

"After New York, Sir has launched several Stark Industries satellites into the orbit and I have full access to them all at all times." JARVIS said casually, as though he were not channeling his inner Skynet. Stephen somehow thought JARVIS would be far more frightening than either Skynet or Hal-9000. "This location, as well as three others, are emitting large energy readings that somewhat match the readings we already possess from Mr Leufeyson's, Mr Odinson's and the Scarlet Witch's uses of magic in the past. Mr Leufeyson seems to be the only one currently that resembles the readings to an accurate comparison rate, but lore does suggest that he is, in fact, a sorcerer. But that is beside the point. Sir has become aware of this energy signature a short time ago and it would seem that he has decided to trust you enough not to go on site himself to investigate."

He said it like it should be an honor. Stephen approved because he had _seen _just how rare and precious Tony's trust can be. Fourteen million six hundred and five times. "I will do my best to never betray that trust."

That seemed to be the right thing to say because the AI suddenly sounded much more pleasant and a lot friendlier than before. Stephen arched an eyebrow at Parker but the boy just shrugged and they both listened as KAREN and FRIDAY joined the conversation. JARVIS had some plans, it would seem, and KAREN and FRIDAY were more than willing to help. Stephen and Peter were left to their own devices for a long while before Vision finally reappeared. It was the first time any of them saw the android since he took Stark off to bed and he seemed definitely lighter than he used to be. Like he had a new perspective of the world. He was still pleasant and polite but he seemed to have developed a vindictive streak the size of Stark Tower that hadn't been there before. Or perhaps it had and the android had simply tried to ignore it as a leftover part of JARVIS' coding and now that he knew it _wasn't_, he was embracing it.

"Wow," a female voice broke through his musings and he looked up to see an impeccably dressed businesswoman standing there, her red hair giving away her identity even to the most media and socially ignorant person in the world, for she was Pepper Potts, almost as famous as her former boss, CEO of Stark Industries. She was a beautiful woman who seemed to carry her responsibilities with a grace most would doubt with how frail her shoulders seemed for such a burden. But this was the woman that had stood by Tony Stark through his darkest days and had not buckled. Even though they were no longer a couple, they were still two powerhouses in the world of business and no one dared mess with the power due of SI. "You got the green light from JARVIS. That's new."

"Good evening, Ms Potts. It is a pleasure to see you again."

"Just as much as it is a relief to hear _you_ again, JARVIS. We were lost without you." _Tony was lost without you_, is what Stephen hears and _knows_ what she had meant. But she was eying him and the Cloak of Levitation both curiously and warily. She didn't trust him, that much was obvious. It would seem that Tony Stark's self preservation instincts were outside entities, two humans and two AIs. At least he had them in _some_ way. "I see you are entertaining ... interesting company."

That was his cue. He stood up and walked over to Virginia Potts, exposing himself to her judgment, knowing he will need _her_ okay as well if he wishes to stay by Tony's side. Seeing as Tony's life and the fate of the universe very well might depend on it, he sure hopes he will pass. "Doctor Stephen Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts, Sorcerer Supreme and the protector of the New York Sanctum. It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Ms Potts. You're reputation precedes you."

She blinked at him, obviously startled. By his titles or the fact he once used to be a renowned neurosurgeon was yet to be seen. She looked down at his extended hand and he expected to see horror or pity. Instead, he saw ... something else. Compassion? Understanding? _'Ah,'_ he thought. _'The Arc Reactor.'_ If anyone has seen some not so sightly scarring on another human being, it was definitely this woman. She still took his hand, which immediately put her in his 'okay' book. Not the 'good' books, but the 'okay' will have to do for now.

"You must be the, excuse me saying this but I absolutely quote Rhodey on this, _strange_ wizard friend of Tony's that brought JARVIS back." They both cringed at her words and Peter choked on his cereal while trying not to die of laughter. Stephen sent a glare his way before returning his attention to the ever formidable Ms Potts. "I can't thank you enough about that. I thought I was dreaming when I opened my StarkPad this morning and saw half of my schedule handled. Tony was kind of wary of letting FRIDAY out of his sight after the whole Ultron ordeal and just forgot to give her clearance later, but she has it now and the _only_ one other than Tony who can give clearance into the deep web of SI is JARVIS. Tony has been a mess and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't take care of him so ... Thank you. You have _no_ idea how much this means to us. To _him_."

"It was my pleasure to be of assistance, Ms Pot-"

"Call me Pepper." The sorcerer blinked at the unexpected interruption and then blinked again when he registered what was actually said. Seeing the expression on his face, a mischievous look settled over her own. "Don't tell Tony, but FRIDAY is a _terrible_ gossip. She told me about everything."

"Everything?"

Pepper nodded. "I know about the conference meeting." There was an angry hiss of static over the speakers that Pepper paid no head to while Stephen and Peter stiffened on instinct. "You saved him. And you somehow got the vote of approval from the most overprotective intelligence in the world. Clearly you can't be _that_ bad."

"But you are still going to give me what is essentially the shovel talk? Don't worry about that one, JARVIS' was more than adequate enough." He shuddered at the thought of how easily Kamar-Taj had been found. Perhaps they had become to lax in their confidence of cloaking themselves from satellites that ordinary humans made that they _forgot_ that there are some not so ordinary humans out there. Not mutants, not Inhumans, not other sorcerers or aliens. Simply Tony Stark. The world seems to greatly underestimate the man.

"Oh, I don't doubt it." The redhead agreed easily. "And you'll probably still receive a speech from Rhodey and Happy when you meet him, so you don't really need me telling you that I will cut your balls off and hang them like a Christmas decoration for all to see. I'll leave that part to Harley." Peter was mouthing the name 'Harley' back at him in confusion but how was _Stephen_ supposed to know?! Sure, he might have seen fourteen million futures but Stark didn't talk to him about _everything_ in them. And Stephen had kept mostly true to his words and had mostly only watched snippets of the future. Only mostly. Occasionally he watched the whole thing but if no one knew about that, then no one can wring his neck for it.

"Mr Keener is coming to visit Boss?" FRIDAY pipped up, clearly not in on this plan. Stephen wondered if these two super AIs will end up stepping on each other's metaphorical toes or if they'll find a way to work together.

"Yes. Tony doesn't know about it yet, it's supposed to be a surprise, but Harley will probably call him and accidentally give up the element of surprise." Pepper said in a fond tone before she grinned at Peter. "I gotta warn you, though. Harley is basically another of Tony's brain children and he can be rather possessive of Tony's time and attention. Try to be friends with him, okay?"

It was interesting to watch Peter's face break into a shameful blush and start complaining at Pepper that 'it wasn't like that!' It was equally interesting to find out Stark had 'brain children'? What was _that_ supposed to mean? Did he go picking up smart kids and randomly adopting them? Somehow, that thought didn't surprise Stephen _at all_.

"Speaking of _friends_," the snarl drew Stephen's attention out of his own thoughts and back to Pepper. "Tony has another Avengers meeting scheduled for next Monday." It took him a few seconds to realize she was talking directly to him. He arched an eyebrow, silently communicating to her to give him more and to get to the point. She must be used to such a look because she prowled on without verbal encouragement. "Will you be making reappearances before then or should I expect him to go searching you out at the most inconvenient - for me - times in the time until then?"

"What makes you think I will leave?" The Master of the Mystic Arts asks curiously, letting his eyebrow go higher.

"The fact that you have introduced yourself as the Sorcerer Supreme. I am under the impression that is not such a common title and that you will probably have to leave at some point." Well, she wasn't wrong there, on either point. Besides, Stephen wasn't sure if he hadn't already overstayed his welcome.

Vision must have sensed this, because he was the one who spoke up next. "You are always welcome at Stark Tower, Doctor. I am sure Tony will gladly see you whenever you are free." Then again, he probably _cloud_ to some lever, what with the Mind Stone and all.

"Just please leave some form of contact so we can reach you. Knowing Tony, he will probably go crazy if you subject him to radio silence after what Rhodey told me you two are preparing for." Pepper sighed and looked at him expectantly. Stephen hesitated only for a second before materializing a slip of paper almost identical to the one he had once left behind for Thor upon trapping Loki in a constantly falling portal. Only this one had a phone number added to it as well as an email address. Those will actually _mean_ something to these people. Besides, Pepper was right. He and Tony needed to have a way to communicate with each other outside if whenever Stephen could come over. They were both busy people and might not be available for a face to face meeting but that did not mean they can't talk. The redhead smiled gratefully at him and took the slip, arching an eyebrow at the lack of name but not bothering to ask about it. Instead, she just nodded her head in thanks, said bye to the two superheroes, one sorcerer and his Cloak and three AIs before leaving, the sound of clicking heels lasting longer than their sight of her.

A few hours later, Rhodey returned, bringing in the fourth AI into the fry of KAREN, FRIDAY, JARVIS and Vision arguing about some calculations that they wouldn't share with the two humans that were still sticking around. The only way they knew that the AIs were arguing was how the numbers, calculations, spotted errors and corrections and various other data was colored in different holograms. JARVIS was a beautiful blue color that almost duplicated the shade of the Arc Reactor's light. FRIDAY had a pinkish purple as her color. Vision used modest, elegant gray as his color while KAREN was an identical red to the Spider-Man suit. SARAH was an almost military green. Sometimes, JARVIS would highlight something in orange that nearly looked golden, resembling the color of Stephen's own magic. There was so much techno-jargon going on that not even Rhodey, a rocket scientist, or Stephen, a genius in his own right with a photographic memory, could keep up. Peter simply gave up after a while and concentrated on doing his homework.

_Why_, exactly, hadn't anyone tried to get this kid to go to school?

Even by evening, there was still no sign of Tony but Stephen figured he deserved his rest. That, however, could not keep him away from his other duties forever. So with a few goodbyes and promises to keep in touch, Stephen opened a portal to the Sanctum and went on his way. "We have a problem." Were the first words he heard from a waiting Wong and Stephen pursed his lips.

No time for some more rest. He had work to do.


	13. Chapter 13

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

"Are you certain of this?" Stephen asked, eyes fixed on what the Cauldron of the Cosmos was showing them right now. There was a big blue dot on the magical illusion of a display featuring the world, located in Norway, just on the island that the Asgardians were given to settle in. That island was currently the second brightest point on the image of the Earth, second only to Kamar-Taj and maybe the three Sanctums. The people of Asgard know _some_ magic or are wearing something at least a little bit enchanted, so there was plenty of magic signatures coming from their little island of New Asgard, as it was being renamed. Still, Kamar-Taj had hundreds of active partitioners of the Mystic Arts and thousands of relics in its temples. There were only a rare few sorcerers amongst Asgardians and only one really stood out, even _without_ the blue energy signature Stephen was so intently studying. The Sanctums had a different sort of mystical energy about them and they shone in a vastly different manner. Mainly, the shields that spread out of the stood out.

The blue dot that he was staring at with X ray vision intensity was not one that should have been on Earth.

"There is not even a drop of doubt regarding this, Stephen." Wong said, looking at the Sorcerer Supreme and not the blue dot. There were two more identical ones, if in different color, showing on the map. A yellow one in New York, with a green one a few centimeters away from it, smack in the middle of the light coming from the New York Sanctum. "It is an Infinity Stone and we have even less doubt about who has it."

"Loki." The younger sorcerer said with a deep sigh. "So Tony was right. Should have expected that." He really should have. Not only did Tony rarely make a mistake when applying logic and not only did he have some very precise scanners, especially ones built to _track the Tesseract_, but this was also something so very _Loki_ to do. Why Stephen hadn't anticipated this, he wasn't sure. Thor, he understood. The demigod had a big, nice Loki-shaped blind spot, which is why Loki so easily managed to stab him each and every time. Hopefully the stabbing urges had lessened over time. Thor didn't seem like he was suffering from any such wounds two days ago.

"Stark?"

Stephen looked up to meet Wong's inquiring eyes. His face was as impassive as ever, but his eyes gave him away from time to time. Good thing Stephen had learned this in time or else he'd still be floundering with what to do about the lack of any emotional expression his companion seemed to suffer of. "He said his scanners were detecting some energy over in Norway and that he would bet half his fortune on it being the Tesseract and in Loki's possession. I guess we should have looked into it immediately but-"

"But there was a vulnerable Infinity Stone to watch over." Wong concluded for him with a nod. "The Tesseract hasn't been used but the energy it is emitting is like a beacon that we could really do without."

"Tony says that the container that is the Tesseract is leaking quite a bit of the Space Stone's power because it isn't as stable as it should be. Maybe if we put wards on it like Agamotto did for the Eye and the Time Stone, the leakage can be reduced to a bare minimum." At Wong's considering look, Stephen shrugged. "The man has dealt personally with two Infinity Stones, one of which _is_ the Tesseract. I take it there is rare few on this Earth who understand the Infinity Stones better than him."

"That will come in handy when it is time for training to start. Speaking of," and here Strange flinched, knowing where this was going and that he didn't have and adequate answer. Not one that will satisfy Wong, at least. Or any of the other Masters of the Mystic Arts. "When exactly do you plan to begin?" At the look on his face, the Asian sorcerer glared. "You _are_ planning on starting the lessons soon, _right_, Stephen?"

"I don't know what you expect me to say!" He snapped back, not at all happy about the way Wong was talking to him now. "I can't exactly come out and _tell_ him how and why I decided to teach him the Mystic Arts and why he _must_ learn to control the core magical energy that is currently dormant inside if him. Something tells me it won't go well and he might just run for the hills!"

"We can't afford to lose so much time!"

"We can't afford for him to _avoid us completely_, either, Wong! That defeats the purpose of ... nearly everything!" The doctor returned Wong's glare with one of his own. "We won't be able to protect him. We won't be able to prepare him for what is to come and we won't be able to prepare _Earth_ for what is coming! There are three Infinity Stones somewhere out there but there are three _right here_. Earth _must_ have a way of preparing and defense _outside_ our magical shield and _outside_ of the current Avengers lineup." He crossed his arms and the Cloak fluttered a bit threateningly. "Tony is essential in all of this and we can't let us rushing into something scare him off. We _need_ to be in contact with him and on good terms-"

"Oh, _we_ do?" The librarian asked with a near sneer to his tone, stopping Stephen in his tracks. "Are you _sure_?"

"Wong," the taller sorcerer said in a half confused, half annoyed firm voice. "Tony Stark is quite literally the key to the survival of half of the universe-"

"Then why aren't you training him accordingly already?"

"Because he's not ready!" The two sorcerers were glaring at each other, eyes challenging and stances almost aggressive. "If he gets scarred off, we'll never-"

"There is no _we_ here, Stephen." Wong interrupted and this time he sounded mostly resigned. "There is only _you_. You _need_ him to be on good terms with you. I _told_ you looking into the future was a bad idea but you didn't _listen_ and now you are compromised." Stephen went to open his mouth and deny that but Wong just put up a hand as if to silently shut him up. The former doctor did as was requested, frowning. "A man with as much potential as he has will take to the Mystic Arts with a speed similar to yours. Only he isn't desperate for it so he will not be as frustrated in the beginning and might actually make a better sorcerer than either of us, if he actually bothers learning."

"But you're forgetting that he _hates_ everything and anything that has any sort of connection with magic." Strange points out although most of the fight had already seeped out of him. He wasn't a naturally violent man although there were a few times in his life that he'd actively sought out a fight, in his earlier years of high school and collage and maybe even a little during his own training at Kamar-Taj. He liked stimulative, intellectual banter, yes, but not meaningless fights with his friends, as rare as they were. "Not to mention that he will want to know _why_ he would have to learn and _that_ explanation, if it is to be at all truthful, would have to include details that might alter the time line I saw and the only way to defeat our enemy."

"Mordo attacked him. A way to protect himself from magical attacks seems like a decent enough reason to make someone study the Mystic Arts." The chubbier of the two pointed out and Stephen had to admit the reasoning was valid. That didn't mean he liked it, though.

"He's not a man to let himself be swept away by the energy of the world. He won't let go of his need to control all that's around him so easily." He still remembers how hard he had clung to logic and reason and what the Ancient One had to do to make him let go. "And I can't ... I _refuse_ to resort to portalling him on top of Mount Everest just to get my point across. He only just started trusting me, trusting my _magic_. And sending his soul through countless dimensions is just as out of the question. It would result in a negative reaction that might severe what little of his trust I currently posses."

"I understand your fear, Stephen, but even if you _are_ the Sorcerer Supreme now," Wong said almost soothingly. "That does not mean you must be the same teacher that the Ancient One had been. But we _must_ teach him some basic notions of magic because, whether he likes it or not, that is how the Infinity Stones operate. If he wants to _understand _them, then he will have to understand the parameters within which the act. The Mystic Arts are the only form of manipulating energy that can cover all of the Stones' powers, except maybe the time spells that you do with the Time Stone; those are kind of unique." Which is a different way of saying pretty much impossible without the Time Stone. "He _needs_ to know these basics. If you want your plan to work, it is better that he is ready."

"I _know_ that, Wong." The frustrated Sorcerer Supreme ground out between grit teeth. Said man only arched an eyebrow at him, crossing his own arms over his chest.

"_Do_ you, Stephen? Do you _really_?"

Anger flooded him and for once he didn't hold back. "_Yes_, I _know_! I know _better than anyone_ just what is on the line! I know just _what_ needs to be done, _who_ needs to be involved and weather or not Tony should start his training right now! I've seen over _fourteen million_ futures, Wong! I know _exactly_ what I am doing." The past sentence was almost a deadly whisper, _daring_ Wong to refute him. When the older man, too stunned to say anything, remained silent, Stephen continued in a calm voice that was in stark contrast to the one he had been using only a few moments ago. "We are sorcerers of Earth. It is our sworn duty to protect the multiverse and to guard the Time Stone. Right now, both of those duties center around Stark and _that_ means that we need to be careful about how we go about things. One wrong move can doom us all. Do you understand just _why_ we must wait for the right moment to bring this up with him?"

Tony didn't trust magic. It was really that simple. He didn't trust it. Not after everything that he had been through because of it. It would be downright foolish to hope for a good reaction out of him at the prospect of him leaning magic. Stephen can word it in as close to scientific terms until he is blue in the face but it's a fact that Tony doesn't trust magic. It's not even that he hates it - despite him always saying that he does. He hates how people are using it and the fact that he has no definite way to defend himself from it by the means he has at his disposal. So magic was a big no no in Tony Stark's life. Stephen had honestly thought he would receive a lot harsher and colder treatment than he got but he knew Tony was practical above all else. Maybe there is a chance to change Tony's mind about magic but they can't do it by dropping a couple dozen of books into his lap and telling him to study them. Loki, Wanda Maximoff and, unfortunately, one Karl Mordo have already formed an opinion on magic for Stark but Stephen hoped he could change it. Even if only a little. Even if only for Tony to even _consider_ the possibility of learning magic. It would have to be enough. Because, one way or the other, Stephen had set them on this path and Tony will _need_ to learn magic if they want to win.

Wong finally nodded, conceding to Stephen's point silently. Or maybe he was nodding in approval that Stephen had not lost sight of their mission. Either way, Stephen had won this round. "Very well. I trust you will know when to begin the lessons. But we should address the Space Stone problem now."

"I guess I will have to go and have a chat with Loki." Not something he was looking forward to. The god of mischief had a rather ... intense stabbing urge that Stephen would rather not try to discover whether it applied to people besides his brother. Not to mention that the frost giant was probably still pissed at the fact that someone who had been a sorcerer for a year had managed to outsmart a sorcerer, capture him and hold him within an endlessly falling portal that had thousands of years of experience in learning and using magic. Hey, it wasn't Stephen's fault that he was some sort of magical prodigy! Besides, god or not, Loki probably didn't have a photographic memory. That meant that the average amount of spells he could use at any moment was probably about the same number Stephen can memorize. And yes, he _was_ counting on the fact that Loki was taught on Asgard. Not that it changes things much. As Sorcerer Supreme, Stephen had traveled through many dimensions and talked to other creatures practicing the Mystic Arts and had learned spells older than his planet. Then again, he didn't actually know all that much about Loki and his magic. The god of mischief had rarely came to Earth. He had probably thought them inferior. In that case, serves him right, those thirty minutes of falling.

"It would probably be for the best." Wong agreed, eyes finally flicking to the blue dot on the astral map. Only it was no longer in Norway. It was at the Avengers Compound in upstate New York. The Avengers Compound, where Thor was staying while he is to discuss arrangements with the lawyers and consultants Tony had offered him and his people.

Stephen's eyes narrowed in a dangerous glare. "What is he up to?"

"Maybe he's following his brother to one of those meetings?" Wong suggests although he doesn't exactly sound as if he believes his own theory.

"I warned Thor to keep an eye on him."

"He technically is." Stephen just sighed at that and ran a hand through his hair. "What are you going to do?"

"I need to talk to him, warn him not to do anything stupid. I won't hesitate to seal his powers, if that's what you're implying, but I won't take away the Tesseract either." At the glare he received, he only rolled his eyes at Wong. "Tony said Loki had been under mind control in New York. Not an impossibility, since he was sent to Earth by Thanos to retrieve the Tesseract. Thanos already had the Mind Stone in the scepter he gave Loki but Loki lost it on Earth and it ended up with Vision and the Avengers. If Loki was really mind controlled, then Thanos is as much his enemy as he is ours. Whether we can be actual allies or just not-enemies is still up for discussion but one thing is for certain. Loki is perhaps one of the most qualified to keep an Infinity Stone. And knowing his tendency to disappear when things don't go his way, he will probably give Thanos a good chase if Thanos decides to go after the Space Stone first, buying us valuable time."

"The question remains," Wong said after a moment, accepting Strange's explanation. "Whether we tell him and Thor just what you and Stark are up to."

"Honestly, not even Tony and I know what we are up to. All we know is that we need to prepare and get more recruits. Because, quite frankly, the first order of business for sorcerers is to keep the Sanctums and our reality safe." On that much they all agreed on. Thanos was one thing. He will try to wipe out half of life in the entire universe but he was mortal and he can be fought and defeated. But just beyond the wall of reality and the distance of a dimension of space away there was a demonic creature that would destroy _everything_ in the universe, in the _multiverse_, and that can't be fought or killed, only sealed away in a dimension outside of time and space. If Dormammu were to get free ... Well. Thanos was a baby in comparison. "I think Tony is already on it. Probably has been ever since the Civil War a few months ago. Hopefully, there will soon be some new faces to join the New Avengers. We're desperately hurting for numbers."

"The Sorcerer Supreme isn't enough?" Stephen wasn't sure if Wong was teasing or mocking him. It was all very ... Wong.

"It's not about me, Wong." That's something he had learned from the Ancient One. One of the last lessons she had taught him. He was insignificant. There was so much more to the world around them. They were all just specks in infinity. And yet, because of the six Infinity Stones, two of those numberless specks shone more brightly. It was the opposite for them. The universe was insignificant, for it was barely a battlefield for them. They were what mattered, _they_ were what will bring change, for better or for worse. It was about _them_. And one of them had to be protected while the other must be defeated. Those two are to stand against each other and the universe is either to pick a side or to vanish.

Either way, the Mad Titan will face the Merchant of Death and one of them will walk away the victor. Everyone else was just a side-story.

"It's good that you learned that." Wong says for a lack of a different, better reaction and Stephen smiles humorlessly at him. "Will you go now?"

"Yes." He sighed again and let his magic fix his hair for him. "If he is indeed in a meeting, I will leave a message for him to meet me on neutral ground so we can discuss the Tesseract and everything else."

The Asian man nodded but still did not look all that pleased. Then again, it was to be expected. Loki _was_ listed as a threat to this planet. A magical threat, at that. But he was now also a newly minted resident of a new kingdom that was being raised from the ground up on the efforts of Thor, Loki, any of their advisors, Tony Stark and the consultants he had provided and was as such a closely observed political figure. They can't just portal him out of wherever he is to the Sanctum. Not anymore. Not without some serious repercussions and a boatload of problems for Tony. Seeing as Stephen strove to _lessen_ the load on the man's shoulders, it would be best if he threaded cautiously and think every step through before he acts.

"I will guard the Sanctum." Was all Wong said and gave him a brief nod before he walked away, up the stairs and towards the library there. He was probably going to search for any soul-involved spells to see if there really were any like Tony had logically suggested there might be so that they could possibly destroy the Soul Stone if they get a chance. Which left Stephen and the Cloak alone in the foyer of the New York Sanctum to prepare for a confrontation with a sometimes homicidal god of mischief.

"You ready?" The sorcerer asked his constant companion, who made a strange shrugging gesture before settling back over his shoulders. Stephen shook his head fondly at the Cloak before squaring his shoulders and opening a portal into the Avengers Compound.

"Oh, I wasn't expecting you this soon. I must admit I am impressed." A smooth, slick voice greeted him as soon as he stepped fully through and he was somewhat surprised that the first thing to meet him wasn't a dagger flying towards his face. "I guess that Earth's Sorcerer Supreme has to have _some _decent level of skill. Nothing on par with a god like myself but not half bad."

Stephen felt his lips pull into a smirk despite himself. "I will have you know that a mere mortal with no magic has located you before me, as well as the dangerous artifact I am here to speak with you about."

Loki nodded, not looking surprised at all although there was something like respect in his green eyes. "The Man of Iron is a formidable opponent. I believe he still owes me that drink he promised me."

"You won't be getting that drink until we establish some ground rules, Loki." The two magic users stared at each other with utter distrust and distaste but Stephen was not here for a magical pissing contest. "We must discuss the protection of the Tesseract."

Loki tried his best not to react and the liesmith was good, but he had still stiffened for the briefest of seconds at the mention of the cube. "And why would _I_ discuss _anything _with _you_?"

"Because Thanos is coming and I am under the impression you would rather not face him alone."

His answer had Loki pausing, apparently thinking his options over before an unhappy scowl settled over his face. There was something a lot like both fear and resignation in his eyes that had Stephen thinking Tony was right yet again. Loki was not Thanos' pawn of his own choosing.

"He hunts for the one you call Tony Stark." The dark haired Asgardian says warily and Stephen was the one to stiffen this time, clenching his fists.

"I am aware. We are making plans." Loki arched an eyebrow at that, intrigued. "I am giving you a chance to get a say in what will happen to you now if you sign the Accords and agree not to go around controlling or killing humans again. Just don't forget, god or not, your powers can be bound and I am well withing my right to do so. You fall under _my _jurisdiction now, Loki." He glared at the mischief maker. "You are officially my responsibility and don't think I won't throw you into a portal _without _the Tesseract if you piss me off."

"Dully noted." Loki nodded with a grim smile on his face. "Shall we begin?"

Stephen sat warily into the chit that was pointed out to him and the two magic users didn't move out of their seats until well late into the next afternoon when they finally came to an agreement that they were both happy with.

00000

"Boss, are you sure about this?"

"You yourself said that the project is as ready as it can be, baby girl."

"Yes, well ... That was before we had more brainpower behind it. Maybe JARVIS will spot something we missed, Boss. This is too dangerous for you to just test it out on yourself if we're not even sure whether it will work or making things even more troublesome for you."

"I agree with FRIDAY where the danger levels are concerned should this not succeed, Sir, and while I do believe the serum is ready, shouldn't we at least contact someone else to be on standby? Perhaps someone who would be able to help?"

"JARVIS, what did I tell you about sometimes flying before walking?"

"Boss, I know I am not as advanced as JARVIS, but that makes no sense!"

"It makes Stark-sense, FRIDAY. Now you two stop fretting and begin the procedure. I'm as ready as can be."

"Boss, I still suggest more research ... "

"Sir, perhaps we should contact Doctor Strange to be on standby ... "

"Boss Lady won't be happy ..."

"Colonel Rhodes' blood pressure will reach worrying parameters ... "

"And that's why neither of you will tell either of them." Tony said determinedly, glaring up at the cameras that his two AIs were looking out of. "If you say another word that has no connection to the procedure, I am going to lock you out of the lab." He couldn't have made a more terrifying threat at the moment than that one. He grunted in satisfaction when they complied. "Look, I know you are worried about this but this is a calculated risk, one I _have_ to take, okay? I _need_ the suit to work at 110%. This is what I've been preparing for since New York! I can't ... I can't afford to not be completely ready for this, J, FRI. Vision and the Doc will be his first targets and I _can't_ let anyone else die because I failed to protect them."

"Vision won't die without the Mind Stone anymore, Boss."

"I agree with FRIDAY. And Doctor Strange seems to know what he is doing."

"And the suit can't get better without adding Vibranium, Uru or some other extraterrestrial material."

"Not that it needs pointing out, but you will also have _us_ with you, Sir. Three heads are better than two."

"Be that as it may," Tony conceded, leaning back in his chair, a big injection in his hand, ready to stab into his arm artery as soon as he finishes up his talks with his worrying AIs. "There are _other_ factors that can kill them and I don't ever want to lose contact because there was an EMP or my suit's power was cut. I learn from my mistakes, guys. I never wanna lose touch with _you_. And if I don't do this ... The implant can be damaged in battle if someone bashes my head against a hard enough surface. I just ... I want to be _ready_. To be _sure_ I can take on this Thanos guy when he comes and I will _need_ you, _both_ of you, in order to fight to the best of my abilities ... Okay?"

"I still say we should at least have someone on standby, but you know I am here for you, Sir. Always." JARVIS conceded after a short pause and Tony relaxed slightly.

"I second that opinion, Boss, but I also second my support. Just don't get angry if you grow a sixth toe and I say 'I told you so'."

The engineer chuckled at that and shook his head, finally relaxing. His three helper bots were peaking from behind the counter he insisted they hide should things go South, even if for a moment, not wanting them to suffer any damage if it does. He grips the cinder in his hand tightly and thinks about what he was about to do before taking a deep breath and stealing his nerve. Stark men are made of iron and all that bullshit. Well, he just so happens to have some palladium rooted in his cells due to the heavy metal poisoning from a few years back. That should act as excellent circuitry. And a conduit for the energy from the Arc Reactor.

"Well, here goes nothing."


	14. Chapter 14

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

"Thank you for coming, Mr Stark." T'Challa said with a polite, not at all sincere smile as he shook hands with the genius a week later at the Avengers Compound. He was dressed to the nines, as though trying to compete with Stark's three piece suit that seemed to define every part of his body just right. Steve found it exasperating but still endearing how Tony was trying to play the upper hand by throwing around his wealth and making a power-play. It's not as if it's _working_. The team had seen Tony in nothing but the drags he wears in his workshop, covered in grease and who knows what else, old and worn. He's not going to impress anyone with that suit, no matter how good it made him look.

"It was no problem, King T'Challa. I just cut short a lunch with the president when he started getting calls from the UN about giving you guys pardons and it looked like he was starting to consider just giving the phone to me. That's a bag of cat's I don't want to touch with a ten foot pole." Steve frowned at the casual tone Tony was using when dismissing the president with his ever present paparazzi smirk in place. "Although, I was under the impression this was Accords-Avengers business."

Tony didn't even look at them and yet his words were pointed enough to get his point across as to _whom_ he was referring. Clint and Wanda bristled while Nat and Sam frowned, one in thought and displeasure, the other in slight confusion. Scott and Bucky remained fidgety and silent both, just watching what was going on. Steve knew he was scowling at Tony but he wondered what T'Challa's and Princess Shuri's faces showed, as their backs were turned to the so called rouges. The Dora Milaje, though, seemed approving of Stark's behavior so far. Then again, they've never been fond of Steve and his group.

"It _is_ Accords-Avengers business, I assure you. But first, let me introduce you to my sister, Princess Shuri." The teen smiled pleasantly at the billionaire and extended her hand. Tony shook it instead of kissing it but that didn't seem to bother the princess, no matter how impolite. Steve just scoffed at the genius. They knew not to do that because Shuri had told them it wasn't the Wakandan way. Stark didn't know that and was just being rude. T'Challa sent him a warning look over his shoulder before turning back to Tony. "She is one of our scientists and technology developers back in Wakanda. I thought this might be a good experience for her, to see the outside world."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, your highness." Huh. Tony's smile seemed a bit warmer when he smiled at the girl. "I hope your stay is a success. And as lovely as this is, I have a meeting in an hour so if we can just move on to business?" It was worded as a question but Steve recognized a baseline order any day and he glared, disappointed, at the genius. Well, no matter. This meeting's conversation wasn't the main point of them being here. Shuri will soon show him up. Steve can't wait to see Tony's reaction when he realizes that he's no longer the smartest in the room, or the one with the best toys. After seeing Wakanda, Tony's things looked like child's play.

"Of course," T'Challa said as the king he was and gestured for Tony to take a seat. The billionaire, just to be difficult, grabbed a spare chair and sat at the far end of the circular table, away from both the Wakandans and the Avengers instead of sitting with his team like he should have. "Now, I wished to discuss the changes I have heard you made in the Accords."

"It is _all_ quite transparently stated in the Accords, your majesty." Tony cut in before the king could get a word in regarding what he was going to ask. "I don't mean to be rude, but there _is_ a staff of lawyers right in this building that could help you go through them if you haven't already done so with your own. The Accords are an ever changing contract, fluid as the people who sign it, but its core remains the same as it had always been: protection and accountability for superpowered, mutated, inhuman and all other heroic individuals. If that was all that you wished to discuss, I'm afraid you wasted your time in coming here today."

"There is no need for such an aggressive approach, Mr Stark. I was referring to something else." T'Challa said calmly but his eyes were narrowed. The Dora Milaje now actually looked torn between impressed and pissed with Tony. Not that Steve can blame them. He himself was not indifferent.

"It is not aggressive and I wish to express my sincerest-" Tony expertly ignored Wanda's snorted comment about him knowing nothing about sincerity. "Apologies if I came across as such. I would simply not wish to waste either of our valuable times that we could spend leading our people. The SI R&D department doesn't exactly run itself and I am sure Wakanda always needs its king. I know from experience that getting a meeting with King T'Chaka was an exercise in acrobatics, both of us being very busy men. I would not waste your time with something that has been stated clearly. If you have any other issues regarding the Accords, then I am all ears."

"Wow," Clint commented with a disbelieving shake of his head and a sneer in his voice. "Really laying in on it thick, Stark? I've never heard so much ass-kissing bullshit in my life."

"Unlike you, Barton, I can be genuine and professional when at these meetings."

"That was a low blow, Tony." Natasha cut in before Tony could verbally decapitate Clint. She had a scolding tone to her voice and yet Tony only looked at her with a very not impressed expression on his face. "Pulling King T'Chaka into your mess? Emotional manipulation? Really?"

"I don't know, you tell me. You _are_ the so called expert in this field, aren't you Agent Romanova." It was interesting, Steve would admit, to see Natasha close off so quickly. He'd never seen her flinch like that. Clint was glaring daggers at Tony, who seemed completely unphased by it all. "And I wouldn't pull out the murdered-parent cared because I actually know what King T'Challa and Princess Shuri must be going through. It's never easy to lose a father or a father figure in your life, especially not so young and _especially_ if it was because of murder. I am actually glad that they have the support they need to get through this. King T'Chaka has left a big footprint in our history and I am sure that together, his brilliant kids can continue on his legacy and make it greater. It's a theme, these last few decades. I'm sure he'll fit right in." He waved it all off with a motion of his hand as though _he_ were the king before completely ignoring them and turning back to T'Challa. "You were saying something else has interested you?"

"Yes," T'Challa recovered pretty damn fast, Steve will admit. Faster than Steve would have, especially with the subtle bomb Tony had just dropped and no one seemed to have picked up on. But it was there and it was ticking. Steve worried when and how the others will find out about what happened in Siberia. It wasn't his brightest moment but he had to protect Bucky! He was innocent! It was all HYDRA and yet Stark hadn't cared and had attacked him anyway. "I noticed that there is a section specifically left for your first team-"

"Former," Tony corrected casually, his eyes sliding to Shuri, who was currently on a pretty damn impressive phone that she had developed herself. He dismissed her before turning back to the now heavily frowning Black Panter. "As I have stated in our previous meeting while Director Fury was trying to play mediator, the UN has decided that there will no longer be a single Avengers team. There's you lot and then there are the actually Avengers-"

"We _are_ the actual Avengers, Stark." Sam protested and found himself on the receiving end of a deadpan look.

"The _actual_ Avengers are all accepted individuals who have signed the Accords contract. Last I heard from your liaison, he found all of the Accords contracts littering the floor of the Compound outside your rooms. Ergo, you are _far_ from the _actual_ Avengers."

"I've already signed the Accords. Does that make me an official Avenger?" Natasha challenged and the smile Stark sent her way was chilling. This was businessman Stark. This was not the Tony Steve was used to.

"Actually, your contract has been terminated and the Russians want your head on a silver plater. Better yet, on a _Vibranium_ plater but they know that's not happening so they'll settle for silver. The UN has put you under investigation and how you react to the current Accords will be part of your final evaluation, along with a personality and physic file you will all be tested for by the end of the month. Your liaison was supposed to tell you this later today, when he returns from the UN meeting in Paris, but I guess I just saved the poor bastard a headache. I wish you luck, Romanova. You'll need it."

"Are you _threatening_ her?" Hissed Wanda, red flickering in her eyes and around her fingers. Tony ignored her, however, and sent another glance at Shuri, this time a frown briefly settling on his face before he shook it off and faced the now fuming Scarlet Witch. For a man who'd nearly been thrown into a wall the last time Wanda was this angry, Stark didn't seem all that concerned. If anything, he had a bored look on his face, which only served to rail Wanda up more. Steve sent him disapproving looks that had always worked in the past but Tony didn't even notice it, much to his surprise.

"When I'm _threatening_ someone, _believe_ me, they will _know_. I am simply stating a fact. Agent Romanova has a sea of red in her ledger that almost matches the one _you_ have, Ms Maximoff. You better be on your best behavior because willing HYDRA agents don't get good treatment. By _any_ government."

"Okay, Tony. That's enough." Steve squared his shoulders and stood up from where he was sitting, looking down at the still seated genius. "You've gone on with your temper tantrum long enough. It's time to act like an adult for once in your life-" He stopped, seething, when Tony raised on finger in the air and sent a downright scowl in Shuri's direction. Now that he looked at her, Steve could see obvious signs of frustration on her face as she worked on her phone, which surprised him. He knew she could do this, even if it _was_ harder than they had assumed, but why was Tony glaring at her. No, never mind. That wasn't part of his mission. That was Shuri's to deal with. He had to corral Tony. It was his job as team leader to get the man to act like a proper, reasonable adult and realize that he was wrong to be treating them like this. "No. You are going to listen to me and you're going to stop pretending to be busy with meetings that don't happen with people who probably can't stand you." Brown eyes that were flickering under the light and for a second appeared as blue as the Arc Reactor turned to him with no emotion in them at all, which only further shocked him as Tony's eyes _always_ showed _some_ emotion. The genius can never be still for long, so if no part of his body can move, his _eyes_ come into full focus because they are _always_ moving in _some_ way. Flickers of emotion, dazed looks when he is planning or calculating something, the way they move around the room ...

That wasn't what was happening now, though. Now they were still, steady and lacking all emotion. He almost thought this was someone else but the Arc Reactor still shone through underneath the waistcoat, even if only a little. But those eyes snapped away from him again just as Shuri shrieked as her phone all but exploded in her hands, giving her an electric shock. The advanced technological device - which looked like a pretty amped up version of an iPhone and a petty attempt at a StarkPhone, although it wasn't as bad a knock off as any Hammer version; it still lacked the holographic projectors that Steve had seen on Stark's tablets and phones, which was less impressive than how unbreakable the thing was since it was made of Vibranium; so much for that - was smoking and sparking electricity, completely roasted. The Princess' hands were red but thankfully it didn't look to be any serious burns. She was glaring at the device before the expression changed into shock and something a lot like wonder as she looked up at Tony.

"How?"

The King was on Tony instantly, hands in the lapels of his suit and leaning threateningly close into his face. "You attacked my sister? You hacked her? Are you trying to steal Wakandan technology?" The Dora Mijale were instantly on guard, weapons at the ready and pointed at the genius. Who only gave T'Challa an unimpressed arched eyebrow.

"Please don't pretend you don't know what she was doing all this time. Don't insult my intelligence like that. I gave her three fair warnings but she wouldn't stop. The fourth time she tried to hack me, my AIs got a bit pissed. You should consider yourselves lucky that J and FRY have _some_ political decorum where these things are concerned." He casually took hold of T'Challa's hands and pried his fingers away with little effort, startling the dark skinned man. Tony smiled at them sarcastically as he stepped away from the flabbergasted man and turned to look at the gawking Shuri. "_Don't_ try to hack me again. You're fighting against _three_ supper intelligences so just stop while you're ahead and I don't report you to the UN for trying to hack and steal _my_ secrets." His smile only became sharper. "Believe me when I say they will rather believe _me_ than _you_. For all that you've managed to get out of your past fuck ups unscathed, a repeat won't happen so easily. Especially not if Pep hears you've tried to hack anything filed away as SI property."

"That doesn't answer my question, Stark." T'Challa growled but was wise enough not to grab Tony again. This was probably being filmed and could and _would _be used against them in some way. "Did you just hack my sister?"

"Nope. I have absolutely no reason to. I took one look at her tech and knew there was nothing there to learn that I didn't already know. You just have resources I don't and that's never exactly been a problem for me before so, no." The engineer waved him away with a patronizing smile. "I didn't hack your sister's phone."

"Did you just say my design is inferior to yours?" The indignant princess asked and Tony shot her a look that clearly said 'No shit, Sherlock'. "How dare you!? I've made that phone myself! There is nothing on Earth nearly as advanced as that phone!"

Tony snorted and reached into his breast pocket, throwing over a glass rectangle at the princess. She nearly dropped it when it lit up, showing over three dozen different apps on the very first page. She actually dropped it when a hologram jumped out of the projector that Steve didn't know where it was hidden. Tony just arched an eyebrow at her as the room was lit up with the holographic image of what appeared to be plans for new battle armor for the US military, new radio transmitters, Starkphone designs, research in what looked like ten different fields, an unfinished paper about something ... The list went on and on around the room.

"That's the phone I've made back in 2010. Pepper wants for us to finally put it in the market since I've kind of made, like, ten new versions since then. That ought to keep SI ahead for the next twenty years alone and I'm still making new things each day. And that was _without_ Vibranium, honey, so when you can do _that_ without Vibranium, we can call your phone better."

"My phones are unbreakable."

"And that glass is tougher than diamonds, made with the Hulk and Point Break in mind, so, yeah." He shrugged and held out his hand for the device. Shuri, who had picked it up and was altering between fiddling with it and gawking at Tony with each new feature she found, hesitated, obviously wanting to study the device.

"And what do you use for communication these days?" She asked in the end, coming to the engineer and offering the device back to him. "Your watch?" She looked at the state of the art smart watch on Stark's wrist with curiosity and wonder and Steve grit his teeth. Stark had just showed up the most technologically advanced country in the world with a _phone_ and a watch and it had to be clouding his head and inflating his ego with this victory. "Does it have similar functions? What sort of power source do you use for it? Wait, is that your gauntlet watch that I heard about? What sort of power can you generate? How strong is the blast? What core do you use? How did you pack it inside of that? Wait," the princess suddenly stopped short to take hold of Tony's hand and bring the watch to eye level. "Is it nanotech?"

"No, it's not nanotech." Tony said with a sort of ... was that fond exasperation or amusement? Why would he-? That didn't matter. Tony had just admitted to having inferior technology. Sure he can see he is outmatched- "I just know how to make big things smaller. You should see my Arc Reactor. The thing was originally, like, the size of a common house." He tapped his chest once and Shuri followed the movement to the glow just barely visible through his clothing. "Now, this is it's most common size."

"How did you cram something that big into something that can fit into your chest without losing any power it could produce? That would, quite literally, require magic. I heard about your work but I thought it was a publicity scam."

Tony snorted and gestured for Shuri to follow him. "It's not magic, it's two generations of genius put to work. My father created the first Arc Reactor model and I made the Arc Reactor itself and then miniaturized and improved it. He discovered a new element and I sythesized it-"

"A new element?!" Much to T'Challa's and the Dora Milaje's surprise, the ingenious teen followed after Tony like an excitable duckling.

"Yeah. I thought it fitting to name it Starkenium." The engineer said as he exited the room. "After all, it was the work of two Starks. Howard was limited by the technology of his time but he, amazingly enough, left to me his legacy. I always thought my old man hated me so you can guess how I reacted to learning all of that."

"How do you synthesize an element? What sort is it? What type? What do you use it for? What is its durability? It's in your Reactor, isn't it? Is it the one generating the power? How much? How long does it take to create? How long does the power last? When did you create it? Can you replicate the procedure? Is it more like a alloy or is it really _synthesized_? What method do you use, laser or magnetism?"

"Can't tell you, since I'm waiting for a Nobel prize on that one." Stark said, their voices fading down the hall. "Hey, you wanna come to my workshop? I'm having a little science binge with some other kids your age and my AIs. Rhodey's in D. C. so we have the tower for ourselves! No one to chase us out to get some sleep! Just glorious coffee and energy drinks."

"You have an _AI_?"

"I have _four_ active AIs, three robotic AIs and am thinking about activating another one."

"Haven't you learned anything after Ultron, Stark?" Clint called after the retreating geniuses but was completely ignored by both.

"Can I meet them?" They heard Shuri ask excitedly and they all looked out into the hall from the meeting room's doorway. Steve saw Tony hand her something that he was sure was a com unit and she placed it in her ear before turning shinning excited eyes on the proud genius.

"You should meet Vision. He's a sythezoid. Combination of lots and lots of interesting layers. Nice guy. He's an android with a Vibranium body. I could use a consultant regarding some things."

"Am I dreaming?"

"Wait till you see my lab!" Tony laughed as they finally rounded a corner and out of sight. The last they heard of the two was Shuri informing her brother she won't be coming back to the hotel for dinner, leaving the young kind gaping. They all just stood there, staring after them in astonishment.

"What the hell just happened?" Sam was the first to ask but no one had the answer.


	15. Chapter 15

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

"Harley! Get away from that suit! I have a dangerous circuitry problem that I need to fix! Peter! Don't make me come over there, young man. No trashy pop songs in my workshop! Shuri, what the hell did I tell you about trying to upgrade Dum-E? I like him the way he is!" Stephen arched an eyebrow at Colonel Rhodes and a blond woman that were sitting calmly on the couch in the common room when he heard the genius' voice echoing from the lab a level or two bellow. The sound of giggling and delightfully shrieking of children had the other eyebrow joining the first, especially at the beeping of the three helper bots that followed and a few crashes. Rhodey and the stranger just grinned at the sorcerer that had just stepped out of a portal and at the noise coming from Tony and whoever he was entertaining. "No! Nathaniel, don't! U, put him down _right now_! Reed, don't encourage them! Lila, Cassie, if I ever get my hands on you, you're gonna be sorry! _Get back here_!"

A choked gasp from the kitchen area alerted Stephen to three more women and a man gasping for breathe, seated at the counter and laughing their asses off at Tony's expense. There was anther woman, a blond, cooking with Vision in the kitchen while constantly slapping a blond, lithely muscular man's hand away from the food. They, too, chuckled every now and then at the noise coming from below and none of them bothered to go check on the genius and his new little army of minions.

"Don't-! Sue! Get your crazy husband out of here before I send him back into space and _leave him there_! You! You sit right there and better not move, mister, or so help me god, Ben, I will weld your ass to that chair!" There was a distinct sound of several snapshots from a phone camera that was followed by curses and chuckling of teenagers. "Kamala Khan, I will _take your phone away_ if you don't stop making Mark 42 do stupid heroic poses! And don't think I don't see you, Dante! Get the hell back here! You two shouldn't even _be here_! This is a _science binge_! You guys _hate_ science!" There was a loud crash before a long bout of silence washed over the atmosphere. "Cooper, did you just _topple over that piece of armor_?! I _told_ you not to touch that! If the fresh paint job has suffered, I will _break your scrawny little neck GET BACK HERE_!"

Two sets of pounding footsteps approached them, the adults in the common room gasping with laughter as a young teen came crashing through the door that led to the stairs to the labs. Tony, ruffled and dirty and caffeine crazed after a science binge, followed after the half laughing, half panicked boy, running from the grinning engineer. Stephen watched as Tony let the boy run up to the couch before he lunged and fell on Rhodey and the blond woman as he tackled the boy. Rhodey and his companion yelped under their weight, only grunting more when Tony started tickling the boy before laughter filled the room. Stephen would have winced on their behalf when the others, who had probably been in the lab with these two, joined in the fray on top of them had he not been so distracted by how happy and relaxed Tony seemed.

Had it really only been a month since he had returned to this man the child he thought he had lost? How can this be that same man? Stephen had only once or twice seen this side of Tony in all the futures he had glimpsed. Tony acting like this was almost as rare as their ways to defeat Thanos. But the month since JARVIS' return has done the genius wonders. Yes, he was obviously still tired and not sleeping right but the cloud of resigned defeat he wasn't even aware of was gone, instead replaced with new hope and determination. What's more, he was _happy_ again. He didn't have JARVIS to mourn every time FRIDAY answered him in the morning or every time Vision spoke and his voice haunted the engineer because it was JARVIS' but not. He had his closest companion back and he had more kids now than ever. And, apparently, not all were mechanic.

There were four older teens, two girls and two boys, one of whom was Peter. One girl had a darker skin tan and chocolate brown hair and eyes and was dressed in some purple tunic and ordinary jeans. The other was dressed a lot more elaborately, in a white tunic and tights with some jewelry here and there, the one that stood out the most being a beaded bracelet, all of the beads black except one light blue one. Her skin was even darker and she had a distinct African look to her. Her hair was in two complicated looking buns. The other boy was a little taller than Peter, was paler but had darker hair, a black so black that in certain angles of light, it had a blue sheen to it. He was dressed in a dark blue shirt with black flames and black jeans.

The two younger teens were both boys, one having sandy blond, curly hair and looking to be around fifteen as to the others' sixteen to seventeen. That kid was currently hanging off of Tony like a koala bear, dressed in a hoodie and some trousers. And the final teen was the one Tony was tickling, short dark blond hair and appearing to be only fourteen. He was trashing on top of Rhodey but beneath the genius as breathless laugh after breathless laugh was tickled out of him.

There were two younger girls in the great big pile as well. They looked close to each other in age, both somewhere between nine and twelve, Stephen couldn't really tell. One resembled the boy getting tickled while the other tugged at Stephen's photographic memory. She had some features he had seen before but he wasn't sure where. One of the women sitting and giggling in the kitchen was obviously her mother, so there was some of that, but he was sure he must have met her father somewhere as well. He was distracted from that train of thought when he spotted the final child, a boy of four, cuddling up right next to the curly haired blond on Tony's back.

The entire group was tickling each other before it somehow turned into a tickle war, kids vs adults. That only had the would-be-food-stealing blond man cackling in delight while the others laughed and Vision just smiled. He wasn't one for overly emotional displays, Stephen had gathered. It was an interesting battle, one which Stephen would have gladly watched had two more men not come up from the lab. Stephen recognized them instantly. Mr Fantastic, Dr Reed Richards himself, and his old friend Ben, or The Thing, as they call him. That would explain the blonds in the kitchen. Susan and Johnny Storm. Or was Susan now Richards? Well, it would seem that Tony's been busy. Had the Fantastic Four signed the Accords? As Sorcerer Supreme, Stephen didn't exactly have all that much time to follow the media all the time. He didn't know whether the Accords had been presented to others.

Richards spotted him about the same time as the tickle war was getting a little out of hand, his eyes widening. "Dr Strange, is that you?" Tony's head shot up, alert, as soon as he heard Reed pronounce his name, but it also earned him the attention of everyone else as well, which he would have rather gone without. Like Johnny's, for instance.

"Dude, what the hell are you wearing?"

"Hi, Dr Strange!" Peter greeted, finally getting off of Rhodey and pulling some of the other kids as well. Strange watched as, as if to spite him, the purple dressed teen girl let her arm stretch the more he pulled, getting a laugh out of the other teens but the blond woman pushed her off the couch and got the last laugh when she pouted and returned her arm back to normal. Ignoring everyone else, Strange arched an eyebrow at Tony, who still had a kid or two hanging off of him.

"Are they new recruits or is this a say care?"

Tony shrugged, careful not to dislodge the four year old off of his shoulders. "I never could tell with the former Avengers so I can't tell now."

"What about us?" An indignant Johnny asked and Susan, Tony, Ben and the black haired woman in the kitchen all rolled their eyes.

"_What_ about you?" The genius engineer sniffed. "You're more of a child than Nathaniel here is." He patted the little boy hanging down his back on the head, earning a giggle out of him. Well, one name down, eight to go. Actually, he can guess already who Cooper is. Tony _had_ given chase to him, after all.

"I second that." The black haired woman, dressed similarly to what Pepper usually wears but in a black version of the business suit he'd last seen her in, stated. She was familiar, too, only he couldn't place his finger on it. He'd never been one for celebrity gossip and he'd watched or read the news only to learn about anything medical related. It was a habit he still couldn't shake, even though it's not consequential to his duties as the Sorcerer Supreme.

"And _I_ totally agree with Tony and Hope." Susan stated, earning a pout from Johnny. "I wouldn't trust you with a rock I found on the beach because you'd break it."

"I wouldn't!"

"He'd set it on fire." Ben corrected, earning a chuckle all around as Johnny pouted like the man-child that he was.

Well, the name Hope helped. Hope Van Dyne, if memory served - which it did. The daughter of the esteemed, eccentric and extremely paranoid and cynic Dr Hank Pym. _Her_ he remembered. She had signed the Accords publicly with Tony and her father a month or so after the Civil War, when Pym Industries made a public apology to Germany for what Scott had done to their airport in Leipzig with the Ant Man suit and made a statement that they had _not_ authorized or approved of any of his actions. They had given the Germans a hefty bill to cover for some of the damage repairs, although most of it was _still_ paid by Stark Industries, even though Tony and his team had done the least damage. The Germans accepted her apology and the money but refused to take all of it from either company, instead demanding justice be served by placing the rouges behind bars. And Stephen only knew _that_ because Christine had ranted about it for half an hour when they had a friendly dinner at his apartment a few days after the broadcast of it.

Another name. Which _still_ left him with seven kids he didn't know the names of and three adults. Better than when he came in. Tony seemed to catch on because he suddenly put down the kids and gathered them all around, finally fully freeing the Colonel and his companion. "Gather around, kiddies, it's introduction time!" The genius sing singed as he threw an arm around Peter. "Doc, you already know Peter and these are my other brain children, nephews and nieces. First we have Harley Keener," the sandy blond waved at him from where he was now hugged by Tony's other arm. "Then these are Cooper, Lila and Nathaniel Barton," each of the siblings waved, Cooper boredly, Lila excitedly and Nathanial shyly from where he was clutching at Tony's pants leg. "This little princess is Cassie Lang." Ah, the daughter of Ant Man. And he thought _nothing_ could surprise him after hearing that Tony had taken in Hawkeye's kids despite the man's betrayal. Taking in a former friend's family is one thing, taking in a complete stranger's is quite another. "This is Princess Shuri of Wakanda." And yet another surprise when one of the teen girls waves at him casually, inspecting his robes from head to toe. She wasn't as bad as the other teen girl. "The stretchy one is Kamala Khan and her partner in crime is Dante Pertuz. Most of them want to be Avengers when they grow up." He chirped at last, earning some petulant glares from the kids.

"We _are_ the Avengers." The one introduced as Dante said, producing a flame much like the Human Torch could out of nowhere.

"No, you're backup unless shit gets desperate. You help, you don't _avenge_. Like Spidey here, right Peter?" But even Peter was pouting, not that Tony seemed to care. He just rolled his eyes before turning back to Stephen, who was getting more confused and amused by the second. And he thought Tony's and Peter's relationship was whack, some sort of mentor-protégé kind of thing. He can't _begin_ to wonder what's going on with the rest of them. "They can't sign the Accords as active support members until they turn eighteen, so they're backup. The Young Avengers, I believe the media has dubbed them?"

Maybe he really should start following the news.

"Anyway, our new members currently present are Colonel Carol Danvers, Captain Marvel, and Hope Van Dyne, the Wasp. I believe you already know the Fantastic Four?" Said quartet nodded to him, Reed still staring at him in that odd, awkward way a man who is socially inept enough not to ask the love of his life to marry him before they both mutated would do. "They, along with the Defenders, the X-men and some former SHIELD agents with awesome skills, all signed the Accords and are working with the New Avengers in keeping the Earth safe." Stephen got the hint, though. It's been a busy month and each and every one of these people knew a greater threat was coming. "Now, these lovely ladies are Laura Barton and Maggie Lang, mothers of these wonderful little devils." The brunet and the blond waved at him. "And that fine fellow is Jim Paxton. Everyone," he then pointed to the sorcerer. "This is Doctor Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme of Earth and hopefully one day soon, an active member of the New Avengers."

"That's actually what I came here to talk to you about." The former neurosurgeon cut in before any more shenanigans could distract them. "I finally got the other Masters to understand just how dire the situation actually is. They have reviewed the Accords contract and have a few changes they'd like to negotiate, but they are finally ready to let me 'come into the public eye'. New Avengers, here I come." His breath caught in his throat, though, when a huge smile spread across Tony's lips. Maybe Wong was right. No, Wong _was_ right. He was compromised because he wanted Tony Stark not only safe but _happy_. That had little to do with the universe and _everything_ to do with Stephen's own personal feelings. He still wasn't exactly sure what they were, exactly, but he _knew_ he wanted Stark to live a better life after the shit he'd been through.

"The sorcerers are going to help? That's awesome! I can finally include some of the other plans I got that involved them." He was already rambling, grabbing Stephen's hand from inside the flock of children surrounding him, holographic screens popping up without even a word or a gesture from him. Stephen remembered the implant he'd mentioned but was that enough? It hadn't seemed to be enough last month. The kids seemed used to it, though, so he wondered if it was normal. Or if it wasn't, why hadn't anyone mentioned it so far. "You said something about a magical shield or something around Earth, right? Three Sanctums that keep it up?"

"Yes. Although they serve to keep Dormammu in the Dark Dimension, not as a shield. More like a ... barrier. It's designed to keep one thing out and in: out of this or any other dimension and in inside of the Dark Dimension." He explained, watching with curiosity as an image of Earth was displayed along with a network of satellites that all seemed to connect. "Why do you ask?"

"Reed, Sue, Shuri and I decided that our first line of defense should be creating a forcefield around the Earth to prevent any invaders from coming in. Wakanda has pretty impressive shields in place and Reed, Sue and I have been consulting with Shuri how to make it on.a larger scale. She'll provide the baseline forcefield generators and it's up to us to put our heads together and figure out how to expand those shields. My satellites are our best option but, as good as the shielding could be, we came upon a snag."

"Basically," Reed took over, coming to stand next to them. He was still giving Stephen odd looks but he didn't say anything and Stephen wasn't in the mood for such commentary. "We can't protect the satellites themselves. If we want to put a shield around them, then they disrupt the planetary shield and leave some pocket space that is void of any form of barrier, since they cancel each other out."

"Not to mention that putting any weapon's on it to protect that pocket space would have every government in the world after us, stating that we are trying for world domination or something." Susan added, still cooking something.

"We thought about a space station, but we'd rather not risk another cosmic storm like what happened to us. We were lucky." Reed indicated to his team. "Others might not end up so well. I mean, Ben and Doom can't cancel out their powers and exposer to such a storm could actually kill people. It's simply not safe."

"So we thought maybe you and your sorcerer friends might be able to put in another shield that could strengthen our own, fix up the holes and maybe even prevent other magic users from landing on Earth without authorization." Tony explained as the holographic Earth was suddenly surrounded by a purple forcefield. "Can you show us your barrier? We need to know what we're working here. From what you've said about Dormammu, we need to know which places are vital and make more shields around them. In case of invasion, if those are attacked, we're gonna have a lot more problems than we would already have had."

Stephen didn't think twice about letting his magic encircle the hologram with an illusion of the barrier held up by the three Sanctums. "New York, London and Hong Kong. Those are the places we need to worry about. If two out of three Sanctums are destroyed, you can say goodbye to the multiverse, because Dormammu will consume _everything_. And we can't kill him. As for another shield, I can do you one better. We'll make a shield that will detect the approach of anyone possessing magic or any magical artifact. And we always know when someone comes to Earth, so there's no need to worry about that. We can stop any kind of teleportation that might be attempted on Earth's soil."

"What about the Space Stone?" Rhodey asked with a frown. "The Tesseract? Aren't those things supposed to be, like, above everything else?"

"You don't have to worry about the Space Stone." Strange said with absolute certainty and was surprised to see Tony nodding along. He sent him a questioning glance but Tony just smirked. "What?"

"Sorted it all out with Reindeer Games?"

"I was going to speak with you about that, but it would seem you already know." He half accused, getting an amused look from Tony. "What?"

"I may no longer _live_ at the Compound, but I still keep an eye on it and especially now that there are countless UN and Accords meetings going on, not to mention the press conferences, the Asgardian thing and, of course, all the new recruits who automatically go straight to the _Avengers_ Compound as opposed to the _Stark_ Tower." The billionaire answered with a huff. "And for all that you and Loki are magic, you can't hide from my AIs, so you can't hide from me." He waved it off and returned the topic to what it should be. "So, Loki's gonna help?"

"Yes. You were right. He's been trying to prepare Asgard for Thanos when Hela happened and the released Surtur to settle it once and for all. He grabbed the Tesseract before escaping with Thor and the rest of their people and came here. By the way, why does he insist you owe him a drink?" Strange sent him a look that Tony ignored and gestured for him to continue. "Anyway, he said he'll let the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj look over the Accords, make the right changes for all magic users and then look it over and sign it himself. Until then, he'll be helping us in secret or as an Asgardian ambassador of sorts. His only condition was that the Tesseract remain with him at all times because he can slip in between realms and escape Thanos if worse comes to worst."

"Agreeable and understandable. I'll contact Thor and send him a phone for our stab-happy friend." Stark nodded, focusing back on the forcefields. The purple, gold and red of the Vibranium barrier, Stephen's magic and Tony's satellite network that can scan deep space and _do_ have _some_ form of defense system - no way Tony didn't out _something_ up there - wasn't the prettiest combination but appearances aren't what they were focusing on. "How fast can you put up a shield?"

"We'll need to find enough places around the world to act as anchors and put runes on them for protection. I'd say a month, depending on how many Masters we can spare. Until then, I can arrange for individual protection of each of your satellites, probably by the end of the week. How fast can you arrange for Vibranium barriers around the Sanctums?" As the Sorcerer Supreme, he had to bring this information to the Masters and the more he knew, the better.

"We need to manufacture them, but I'd say about two weeks. By the end of the third, they're bound to be operational." Shuri explained, using her beaded bracelet to activate a holographic projection of a model of one of the generators.

"We should try to make it smaller but to retain the range." Tony, ever practical, reasoned.

"Also, we should add more ground teams to stay around the Sanctums to better protect them." Reed reasoned. "And if the Asgardians aren't against it, we _could_ have someone up in space to watch over the satellites."

"Someone less prone to breaking things than Thor, though." Tony and Stephen said at the same time, turning to give each other an interesting once over before shrugging it off. "Not a bad idea, all things considered. But I think we're honestly better off making friends with Heimdall. He's kind of all-seeing. We'd get a warning from him sooner than from any of our own methods."

"Can't Mr Thor get in contact with the other realms that were once part of Asgard?" Peter questioned but balked under the attention of the adults. "Uh, never mind."

"It's not a bad idea." Susan tried to sooth him.

Stephen, though he disagreed, didn't say as much. "Asgard conquered the Nine Realms. They have rare few friends amongst them. Perhaps the Frost Giants, if Loki is so inclined to forsake Asgard's throne and take up his father's."

"I'll see what I can do on that front, when we eventually have that drink." At the deadpan look her gets from him, Tony only shrugs. "It's worth a shot and he didn't look like he was overly fond of you."

"You're not going anywhere near Loki without something to keep you safe from his magic." For some reason, Rhodey stiffened and turned a worried look on Tony who, for some even more unforeseeable reason, wasn't reacting so badly at the prospect of magic. Because only magic can cancel out magic. Stephen actually paused, wondering what was going on.

"Okay."

"Okay?" Both Colonel and sorcerer repeated a bit incredulously, watching Tony as he shrugged yet again. He seemed confused by their reactions, maybe even more so than they were of his, which was not fair in the least.

"Yeah, okay." Maybe he didn't realize he can't just _build_ something to keep him safe from magic and doesn't realize Stephen was implying a spell. "I know you won't use any mind control spells, Doc. I trust you with that much. And even if you _try_ something nasty, JARVIS and FRIDAY have a scary vindictive streak." Nope. He knew what Stephen had meant. The Sorcerer Supreme tried not to shiver as he thought back to the low-key (or maybe not so subtle) threat JARVIS had delivered by revealing he knew where Kamar-Taj was and that he could destroy it with a single stream of coding. Stephen was still, however, more surprised by the fact that Tony said he _trusted_ him not to mess with his mind like Maximoff had. "You wanna do this now or later?"

"I'll need to find a strong enough spell to prevent the stronger magical attacks but tomorrow should be fine."

"Awesome! I have a free hour after me noon meeting with Pepper and the SI board of directors. It should finish at about 15:30. Come by whenever you like in that time period, but I'm warning you now, if you miss it, I won't be free for the next week. I'm going to Latveria."

"What!?" The Fantastic Four all exclaimed in shock and Tony made soothing motions at them, clicking his tongue when that didn't seem to calm them down. "You can't!" Johnny insisted, coming up to Tony to shake him. "That's where that crazy psycho Doom lives! He's got weapons and his creepy powers we can't quite discern what they are and he's super strong now! You can't just go to his turf and expect him not to try and kill you!"

"One, yes, I _can_." The genius says as he peels Johnny's hands off of his person. "Two, it's a political meeting _quid pro quo_ style, me helping Latveria get in the UN in exchange for him possibly contributing to our fight. Or at least not bothering you lot for a while." He arches an eyebrow at the younger man and steps back, bringing himself closer to Stephen. The Cloak of Levitation doesn't waist a second to flare up so it can wrap around the billionaire's waste. Tony shoots him a look but Stephen can only shrug. The Cloak does what it wants. "And three, he wouldn't stand a chance against me. My suit took on a tank, a F-22, an army of aliens, an army of murder bots, two supersoldiers, a god, the Hulk, a city falling on my head and a space whale. Whatever _he_ can dish out, I can take it. As for his weapons, I saw Doom's designs. Used to be a competitor in the weapons race and all. Better than Hammer, not that _that's_ hard to manage, but not nearly the best I've seen."

"The best being Stark Industries?" Hope questioned with an amused snort.

"Naturally." Surprisingly enough, it was Rhodey who answered. Not that anyone can disagree and _they_ haven't seen a Jericho missal level a mountain into a pile of rubble and dust.

"Anyway, my point is, most of his weapons were automated. Heat seeking missals, coordinates recognition, preprogrammed destination, that sort of shit. I can hack his crappy programs in the blink of an eye."

"Yes, I am sure you could." Vision, for yet another unknown reason, glared at Tony, who shot him a challenging arched eyebrow. It was honestly getting a little ridiculous.

"Well, now that that's settled," Tony clapped his hands, ignoring hos some of the kids he'd been entertaining earlier were exchanging worried looks at the prospect of Tony meeting this ... Doom character alone. Stephen swore to himself he will find the right spell for tomorrow. "I'm hungry. Who's up for some grub?" That, at least, seems to be dismissal of serious conversations, especially when the younger kids perk up. Tony grins and shoos them all into the kitchen before turning to Stephen. "You wanna join in, Doc?"

Strange looks at the gathering and how homey it all feels. There's an ease in this group that he's never really felt before and he'd rather not stick out. But he didn't. The Fantastic Four were dressed in their uniforms with an article or two of normal clothes over it and Carol was in as casual as a military uniform can get. Rhodey's braces, Vision's red color, Ben in all his rocky glory, the kids in various clothing, Hope in her business suit, the AIs without corporal bodies but being as much a part of the group ... Stephen in his robes and Cloak and Tony in his casual clothes. They were mismatched and yet they fit in perfectly. This was perhaps a place where he could belong. As a neurosurgeon, back in Metro-Central, he was isolated because he was a world class surgeon and did special operations. In Kamar-Taj, he was isolated as the Sorcerer Supreme. It was lonely. In the Sanctum, a house too big for only two people and a sentient Cloak, he felt alone and miles apart from the nearest human contact. Even his old apartment was too big. And yet here, in this room as big as his apartment, the size felt just right. Because there were _people_ here who wouldn't isolate him for his power. Who wouldn't question why he refused to kill an enemy in order to save the day due to his Hippocratic Oath. These people _understood_ the burden of the power they possessed.

Tony, perhaps, better than anyone, as he had given himself the power he wields. He is Iron Man, with or without the suit. Lives changed with every decision he made. He _understood_. He was cursed with knowledge and he had to live with it every day of his life. He bore a burden alone that Stephen had promised himself to share.

"I'd love to." And watching the way he lit up, all but dragging him and the Cloak to the not so little gathering, Stephen guessed it was worth it, if just to place that smile on his face again. It was loud and chaotic and messy and Stephen loved it.

Perhaps staying for dinner wasn't so bad.


	16. Chapter 16

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

"So, how did you end up with the Bartons and the Langs in your Tower?" Tony looked up from where he, FRIDAY and JARVIS were examining his new piece of jewelry, scanning its energy signature and other proprieties to meet Strange's curious gaze. The man had been explicitly punctual, arriving as soon as Tony had finished his meeting and then waiting a few minutes until Tony could come to the Stark Tower penthouse apartment patiently. He greeted Tony with freshly brewed coffee and mint tea, meditating while floating in his empty living room. Without much of a greeting, Tony had thrust out his left hand and Stephen had taken that as his permission, creating the bracelet like spell they had discussed the previous night when a curious Harley has asked what sort of protection spell the sorcerer thought he would use. When the deed was done, they relocated to Tony's lab, Strange reading some magical book written in cuneiform and Tony altering between three ongoing projects and studying the glowing bracelet. It stopped glowing when he stopped touching it, but would flare up in a comforting gold color when he'd run his fingers over it. There were some runes engraved in it that Tony couldn't quite get a read on or a scan since they blinded his sensors, but he figured he'll see what it says some other time.

"Hm?"

"You know, Hawkeye's and Ant Man's wives and kids?" The sorcerer prompted, unaware of just how hard it was for Tony to focus on him at the moment. There was too much data running through his head right now, he can't sort it all out while listening to Strange. "I figured you'd not want to have anything to do with them and yet their families are staying just a few floors down."

Deciding to shut down the scanners and ongoing research regarding the bracelet for a moment, Tony turned to look at the former neurosurgeon. "Laura and Maggie didn't deserve to be dragged into their husbands' messes, especially not with what Ross probably had in mind should he have gotten a chance to get his hands on them. Ransoms and blackmailing aren't things I support. Especially when it's kids. So I bagged them and brought them to the Tower, as well as some other individuals you don't see around often."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Dr Betty Ross and Dr Selvig and Dr Jane Foster. The latter two are playing in the Malibu branch, trying to figure out how the Bifrost works through scientific means - god, I love that woman. 'Magic is just science we don't yet understand'. Brilliant - and Betty's working for SI in Japan with Dr Cho. They're working towards creating some better material to cover my new skin-tight body armor to hide it from enemy eye. You know, so that if someone is captured, the enemy can't find the soldier's last wall of defense? That sort of thing. That and they're trying to help Reed figure out how to control Ben's mutation, for the lack of a better word, on a cellular level. Charles and his X-men are trying to figure it out, too, so they're all working together. There are quite a few people who could use a way to control their mutations appearance wise."

"You sure seem to have quite a team already organized. You sure you need us sorcerers?" Tony knew Strange was teasing him, could hear the joking note in his voice, but that did not put Tony himself in a playful mood.

"Yes. I need _everyone_." At Stephen's worriedly furrowed brows, Tony just smiled bitterly. "Most of our forces are concentrated in the US. Yes, there are mutants and some former SHIELD agents all over the world, perhaps a few other heroes, too, but that does not change the fact that most of our allies are around New York. The Wakandans have agreed to try and keep Africa safe and I know easter Asia is safe with Kamar-Taj in Nepal, but the rest of the world is pretty much out of our reach. You sorcerers have your portals and who knows what else. You can go anywhere and we _need_ that quick response. There's a batch of an Iron Legion in every major city in the world but technology alone won't be enough, no matter how advanced."

"Isn't that why we formed this partnership?" Strange asked rhetorically, gesturing between them. "To ensure the protection and continued safety of Earth? We're not going to fail in this, Tony. We're all ready to give it our all to protect our planet." He smirked, leaning back against one of Tony's work tables. "Besides, Europe has Asgardians now to keep them safe, so that's one less thing to worry about. What we _need_ to worry about is how we will fit the rouges into all of this, if at all. We can always use them as cannon fodder."

That startled a laugh out of Tony and the heave atmosphere vanished from the room. For some reason, Strange seemed all too smug about the reaction he got. Weirdo. "I knew there was a reason I kept you around."

Strange just shook his head with a chuckle and floated over to the couch, making himself comfortable while the Cloak went over to examine Dum-E, U and Butterfingers. Those four seemed to be getting alone better and better every time they spend any amount of time together. Which was, quite frankly, cute. Tony was already dubbing the Cloak an MI: Magical Intelligence. "Do you have any plans for them? The rouges, I mean?"

"Nope. The government, the UN and the president can do what_ever_ they want with them. I've got more important things to focus on. Like what other defenses we can install before shit hits the fan. Any feedback from the sorcerers?"

"Yes, actually. They're almost done with the Accords and they agreed to the idea of encasing the Earth in both magical and technological shields. And most of our disciples and apprentices agreed to fight with the other Masters. Earth officially has a squadron of sorcerers to fight in this war, should it come to that. But protecting the Sanctums and Kamar-Taj still comes as a priority, I hope you understand."

"Like I said yesterday, I don't want that Dormammu thing coming to Earth just after we beat Thanos to destroy us all. One apocalyptic event at a time, please." He gets a rather fond eye roll at that that makes him chuckle before opening up the connection again and scanning the bracelet. JARVIS and FRIDAY are arguing over the readings, bickering like true siblings and true Starks, none the less, all snark and sharp, witty comments. It's as cute as it is annoying because their chatter is only making it harder for him to filter through the information he _wants_ to deal with from the information he _really_ doesn't need now.

"Speaking of yesterday." Ah, he was waiting for this. He knew Stephen won't be able _not_ to ask. It's not exactly the image one gets of Tony Stark from the news and the tabloids and the gossip magazines. "How did you come in contact with the Fantastic Four and Ms Danvers? Or a Wakandan princess, for that matter. And those other kids ... "

"Reed, Sue and I went to MIT together, for about a year before I graduated and left them in the dust. Not that Reed's dumb, he's just really stupid." At the arched eyebrow he gets at that, Tony snorts. "Really. More like socially incompetent and a little more on the recklessly oblivious side than a lack of intelligence kind of stupid. Seriously, who experiment on himself when he _knows_ it's more likely to backfire than to succeed?!"

"I thought a scientist's and inventor's logo was 'everything for science'?"

"Oh, ha ha. You're a comedian. That wasn't science, that was plain stupidity!" The genius insisted, shaking his head at Reed's recklessness. Perhaps this was how people felt when Tony was messing around with his suits and tech but there was a distinct difference between tech and _molecular level of radiated mutation in a human body_ and Reed hadn't even tested the machine on something else before just stepping right in. He pitied Sue. Maybe she and Pepper could compare stories? He was sure they'd both find that therapeutic. "Anyway, as I was saying, we were MIT buddies. Sort of. We were both young and brilliant and had an older, bigger best friend to save our scrawny asses if someone thought about bullying us. Only I decided to develop a teaser gun and soon got the reputation for seeking humiliating revenge so they stopped picking on me while Reed started dating Susan and _no one_ dares say anything to that woman, bless her. She's the only one capable of stopping Reed from ripping a hole in the space-time continuum-"

"WHAT!?"

"_Accidentally_," Tony reassures at the almost screech from the sorcerer who is the _protector_ of said space-time continuum. "Like I said, recklessly oblivious."

"Dear Vinshati," Stephen swore under his breath and Tony wondered what that meant. Stark could only shrug. It wasn't _his_ job to worry about how Reed plays around or uses the replicated cosmic storm that had changed his team. What _was_ his job was to protect the Earth. And occasionally check in with Sue to make sure Reed hadn't actually done something extremely stupid that needed immediate fixing.

"So, anyway, I heard about what happened to them and have been in contact with them for a while now. But they only recently signed the Accords to protect themselves should the government want to use them as experiments or something and Reed and I've been studying Ben's case together to see if a manipulation of energy or hormones can get him to go back to his old self. Ben says he doesn't care anymore but I know he wants to be able to walk down a street without everyone gawking at him. Unfortunately, the kids kind of got in the way." Stephen perked up and Tony chuckled again. "I'm gonna guess you wanna learn more about them?"

"I'll admit to a mild curiosity."

The engineer snorted at that, turning to fully face the seated Master of the Mystic arts. He tried not to get distracted by how at home Strange seemed in his lab. He looked comfortable, as though he needn't be anywhere else to be content and relaxed. Tony wasn't sure what they were - friends, colleges, partners, teammates, fellow protectors of the Earth? Did it matter? - but he knew there was a strange sort of familiarity between them that really shouldn't have existed so early on in a relationship, no matter its nature. But Strange acted like he _knew_ Tony, like he was used to all of his eccentricities. Like they shared history or something. Which was rather odd, since they've only really met, like, a handful of times. He'll have to get back on that one, mostly because he somehow _likes_ the thought of Strange knowing him. Weird.

"Well, you've already met Peter. I guess in some stretch of the word, he's my protégé but please don't tell him I said that. He gets into enough trouble as it is." And it always leaves him on the verge of a panic attack but that's not something he is willing to share with anyone besides his bots and his two AIs. "Harley, too, I guess. I mean, I _am_ teaching him about tech and I _did_ give him a flash grenade-"

"You _what_?!"

"_You_ need to take a chill pill, Doc, or we won't get anywhere with this narrative." They glare at each other for a moment before shrugging it off. "Anyway, since Harley's not enhanced, a mutant or anything like that, until he's at _least_ eighteen, he'll be tech support if there ever comes a time that I can't check our equipment. Or he'll be the regular Young Avengers mechanic." He pauses with a quirk to his lips. Harley was the first kid in his life and he adored the boy as much as he did Peter, no matter how rarely he saw him. He also knew that both boys consider him a father figure and that used to scare the shit out of him. He was okay with being the creator/father to his AIs and the bots, but it was a bit intimidating to take on the same role for living, breathing humans. But Harley and Peter made it easy, no matter how many heart attacks they nearly caused him in the meantime. "We'll see."

"Speaking of which, I really need to start keeping up with the news. A month in Kamar-Taj and I don't know anything about these Young Avengers and the Defenders, was it?" Tony nodded. "Just what were you up to while I was gone?"

"Recruiting. The Defenders are an awesome group of talented individuals but they prefer to stick to themselves and their neighborhood down in Hell's Kitchen. Got myself the best lawyer slash lie detector in town, a drinking buddy, a young rich friend and so on and so fort. Peter also met a guy that goes as Deadpool, a mutant of some kind. Guy can't be killed. Cut off his head and it will grow right back. It's creepy as shit." He shuddered, remembering when Peter had brought in Wade Wilson and the idiotic man thought it would be fun to scare a man with the most famous heart condition. It wasn't _Tony's_ fault that he'd been working on a repulsor glove and had blasted him on sheer instinct. Anyone else would have died from a repulsor blast at full power. "I don't know what's creepier, watching that or a bullet fall out of Logan's forehead. Shit."

"But watching Dr Richards and that girl, Kamala?" Tony nodded. "Stretch out their limbs isn't?"

"Oh, Kamala doesn't count. She's an Inhuman."

Stephen crossed his arms and glared at Tony, much to his surprise. What did he do!? "I know she messed with your armor, but isn't that a bit cruel?" Tony blinked at him a few times, stared blankly before he burst out into laughter, nearly doubling over. Strange's confused expression wasn't helping matters.

"Sorry. I forgot to tell you about that, didn't I? I forget sometimes that not everyone keeps an eye out for every individual with special abilities out there. She's not inhuman, she's _an Inhuman_." He explains, stressing the insulting sounding word. "They are a species a lot like us and the mutants, or something in between, only naturally born into their abilities. They live in a super secret floating city and don't interact much with the rest of the world, until an Inhuman awakens their powers and they swoop in to collect them for training and a bit of cultural education. Their king?" He still wasn't sure if that was the right definition but he'll roll with it. "Signed the Accords for all of Inhuman kind, taking responsibility for every Inhuman on Earth. They have some _wicked_ powers. Problem in the UN arose, though, when we realized just how _similar_ Inhuman's and mutants are. The UN has to rely on Charles and the king knowing how to separate their people, which is relatively easy since Charles can feel a mutant's mind differently from an Inhuman's. It comes down to trust and responsibility but it's been working."

"So, what? Kamala decided to leave this floating city to join the Avengers?" The Sorcerer Supreme asked with a curious tilt of his head.

"Not quite. Dante and Kamala got their powers not that long ago but decided to take somewhat mentors in Reed and Johnny, since they have so similar abilities. They signed the Accords and joined the team."

"And this ... Deadpool character?"

"Former assassin turned anti-hero, whatever that is. He's friends with Pete and keeps him out of any major trouble. The X-men usually deal with him, since he's technically a mutant. He's rude and crass and annoying and crazy and an utter dick. But he can be a good guy and _can_ work with other's occasionally. From what I know, SHIELD tried to recruit him but he gave them a big fat bird and then proceeded to escape them over and over again. He can make Fury pop a vein faster than I can and that is his most redeeming feature."

Stephen stayed silent for a while, absorbing all Tony had said. Seeing that he was taking too long, Tony opened the interface with JARVIS and FRIDAY and silently bickered with them over the readings they got off of the bracelet, only to be startled out of it when Strange snorted with a shake of his head. Tony raised an inquisitive eyebrow at him, waiting for a response. He didn't have to wait for long.

"This is a mad house, isn't it?"

Tony couldn't help but chuckle. "You've got no idea." He shook his head and went back to his research, only to be distracted again by the startled gasp that came from the sorcerer. Tony snapped back to attention, only to find the good doctor already in front of him, scarred, shaky hands taking hold of his face and tilting his head up, blue-green eyes focusing on his Arc Reactor blue ones with an intensity that sent a shiver running down Stark's spine.

"What? ... How?" Well, this was the first time Tony saw Stephen completely lost for words. Tony wasn't sure he'd wanted to see it like this. Stephen Strange was actually the last person he wanted to learn about this. "_Tony_."

"It's nothing." He lets the blue fade out of his eyes just as Strange frowns, leaning in even closer for a better look.

"That right there tells me that it's not simply a contact lenses version of your glasses. Which means something is either wrong with your eyes or you did something." Tony grit his teeth. Strange had hit it right in the bullseye. "Care to tell me what is going on?" He looked away, not wanting to meet the doctor's eyes. "Tony." He didn't look back. "Please tell me? I ... " The genius glanced back in surprise, seeing his conflicted expression on his face. What the hell? "I just want you to trust me. I know I am asking for too much but ... "

Tony bit the inside if his cheek as he looked back to the sorcerer, who was frowning at himself. He _could_ tell Strange that he _was_ asking for _far_ too much. But secret keeping had destroyed the Avengers the first time around. And this was way bigger than his trust issues. Besides, Strange had proved at least three times already that he cared enough about Tony not to lie to him and to try and protect him. So he reached up with one of his hands to grab Strange's wrist to get his attention and let his eyes blur with the familiar blue before flicking his eyes to the side.

Strange followed his gaze and gasped as the machines and holograms and his armors came to life.


	17. Chapter 17

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

Stephen at first didn't understand what was going on. Everything was suddenly active and whirring to life, working on something. There were dozens of holograms all over the place, showing SI files, the leaked SHIELD files, Avengers, old, new and Young, files, files on the Fantastic Four, these Defenders, the X-men and other mutants, the Inhumans, Howard and Maria Stark's files, SI's R&D files, Iron Man armor files, Avengers equipment files, a file on Wakanda, Vision, Shuri, files on villains, old and current, politicians, the Accords, all sort of files. Stephen couldn't even follow all of them as they whirled around.

There were two big orbs floating in the center of the room, one orange and one a purplish pink. JARVIS and FRIDAY. Concentrated constructions of code. JARVIS was bigger with more layers, more complex. To be expected, twenty something years of experience is bound to do that. Even though they weren't saying anything out loud, the holographic projection of the two AIs were obviously exchanging information, since tiny pieces of what must be code was going back and fort. The other machines had come to life, sparking, moving, beeping and so on and so fort.

If Tony's workshop had been a thing of wonder before, it was a field of magic now. Mechanical, scientific magic, one that anyone with a few degrees could eventually understand, but magic none the less.

At first, Stephen didn't understand. Why would Tony show him this? Then it occurred to him that Tony hadn't said anything or made any gestures to signal FRIDAY or JARVIS to put up this display. That was the confusing bit. Because _how _had he activated all of these machines without moving a muscle? And then he looked back at resigned glowing blue eyes and he felt the breath punched out of him by the half realization he made.

He didn't know how or why it was possible, but it was obvious to him that Tony had done something to himself. Something he knew Stephen wouldn't exactly be overly supportive of, judging by how he was bracing himself for his reaction, so it was either dangerous to himself or to others. Knowing Tony as he did now, after the futures he'd seen, after what he'd seen of the man himself in person, Stephen felt dread as he _knew _it was the former.

"_Tony_," he implored almost desperately. "What have you _done_?"

"I injected myself with Extremis, or at least a form of it." A holographic screen flickered to life in front of Stephen but he couldn't look away from Tony's eyes. Now that he was studying them so closely, he could see millions of strings of code flashing across the usually brown eyes, which was why the eyes appeared to be glowing blue. Like Tony's computer screens. "I've been improving it over the years, ever since that first stable version I gave to Pepper. That one just kind of canceled out all the effects of the first Extremis, but I then got thinking how it could be used for the greater good. Not much luck there, though."

"What do you mean? How dangerous is it?" The doctor in him finally gave up not looking at the data so freely offered and he felt all breath leave his body as he read what the first Extremis was like, then scientific curiosity got the better of him and he started scrolling down with one hand, reading about the changes Stark had made for Pepper. He'd never seen something like this before. For a second, he thought it was a way to cure the shaking of his hands, even though he knew he would never return to the operating room now that he knew Tony and the Earth, the _universe_, needed him. But he continued reading and he was glad he hadn't really started hoping.

In order to receive the version of Extremis that healed Ms Potts of the first virus, to gain those powers and that healing ability, you'd have to get injected with the unstable virus version, first. But the original Extremis might just kill you before you can get that second injection. And every other version Tony worked on was too taxing on the body to handle, since it directly attacked the brain, forcing it to recode everything it knew about the body and change it forcefully.

"Why would you do this to yourself?" Stephen asked, even as he continued reading. He finally came to the version of Extremis that Tony had used and paused. The data was extraordinary. What's more, it was obvious Tony _had _found a way to make the Extremis _stable _and _usable_. But the cost for that was as dangerous as for every other version. You had to have metal particles in your blood in order to safely use Extremis, kind of like wires, not to mention a stable, constant power source. Only Tony Stark had the Arc Reactor in his chest and wasn't likely to start giving away that technology. And the only reason he could do this to himself was because he had once had a sever case of heavy metal poisoning. Palladium from the Arc Reactor, a link told him when he searched into it.

"Because we need it." Tony's reply drew Stephen's attention back to his companion, whose face he was still cradling in one hand. "I ... I need it. To fight. To never let Siberia or the Mandarin incident happen again. Or ... New York."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I can make a space worthy suit but I'd lose contact with JARVIS and FRIDAY if I ever got too far out of the orbit. I don't need the Internet, but I need _them_." Tony's eyes were once again their normal brown, not that they were any less captivating, either way. "I can pilot the suit just fine on my own, but there are functions of it that I need help with, which is why I installed JARVIS in the suit as my co-pilot in the first place. There are aspects of flight and our fighting that I would need coding to do and J and FRI are there for that, bless them. To fight at my 200%, I need my co-pilot and my baby girl. Especially for my newest suit."

"And how will _this _help with that?" Stephen so wanted to continue reading the offered data but he couldn't look away from Tony now. Not when that determination was sparking in his eyes.

"Sir is now connected to the web the same as me and FRIDAY are." JARVIS answered instead of his creator, startling Stephen for a second as he had kind of forgotten that, although there were no humans present, that didn't mean they were _alone_. "Sir is now a living, breathing, biological super computer and is in almost constant contact with us or the web."

"Kind of like those science fiction technopaths, only Boss is the real deal." FRIDAY added, sounding both chipper and angry. Sending a glance at the data offered, it showed Stephen that she had noted it down that she had suggested further testing. "It is perfectly safe but tasking on a human brain, even one as brilliant as Boss'. He needs us to filter through most of the information, still, and to protect him from any viruses hiding in the deep web or anywhere, for that matter."

"And you're doing one hell of a job, although you really shouldn't have electrocuted Wakanda's princess." At the flat look Stephen gave him, Tony chuckled uneasily.

Both AIs huffed. "She was trying to hack you, Sir. We were just defending your brain."

"Didn't mean you had to go all Hal-9000 on her."

"She tried to hack _you_, Boss. Not a computer. We don't allow that."

"Shuri didn't know that. Still doesn't," he added, seemingly for Stephen's sake. "But she knows not to do it again."

"Are you prone to being hacked now?" That's a worrying thought. Stephen didn't want to think about it but if Tony was essentially a computer now, it was a very real possibility. Luckily, Tony joined his AIs in their huff, obviously insulted.

"I'm the best damn programmer in the world. I created the best firewalls that _no one_ had managed to hack, _ever_." The engineer said confidently and proudly. "I can stop a hack in its tracks, no matter how skillful or discreet. Besides, I have J and FRI to do it if I am sleeping or otherwise indisposed." He shrugged. "I was always more comfortable around machines than humans. With the exception of Ultron, but that right there was some serious mind/matrix/coding-whammy done by the Mind Stone."

"I'm afraid to ask." Besides, he thought he had demanded too much of Tony's privacy already while giving nothing of his own. That didn't sit well with him. But the only thing that matched the levels of vulnerability Tony was displaying to him were his hands and they shook just at the thought of talking about them. "Are you sure this won't harm you?"

"It makes me feel better. I can rest at night because I can hear JARVIS and FRIDAY and I know I'm not alone, in some Afghani cave or in Siberia." Both of which had been vague topics of his talks with Stark in the future. His free hand, scrolling through the information, tightened in a fist that made his shaking even more obvious due to the effort. He ignored the pain that came with that exertion but he couldn't ignore how Stark's eyes flew to his hands, a frown crossing his face. He flicked his gaze back to Stephen before lowering his eyes. Stephen was a bit surprised when calloused hands gently touched both of his. "May I?"

Well, this was his opportunity to make the scales even, for them to stand on equal ground. He took a shuddering breath and nodded, letting Tony take both of his hands. Scanners from somewhere must have examined his hands and were sharing the images and data with Tony because his eyes were once again glowing blue as he ran careful, gentle fingers along the scars left by the surgery in which eleven stainless steel pins had been put inside his bones to enable any sort of movement. Christine and Dr West really had done their best but Stephen was still convinced he could have done better, done _more_.

But then he wouldn't have been here, wouldn't have ever met Tony. Earth would have probably lost her greatest defender long before he was most needed. The universe knew what it was doing and it wasn't letting him regret it. He couldn't regret it. Knowing Tony Stark like he did now ... He wouldn't give that up, for anything, not even his old career back.

"Are you sure it has no negative effects? Because you are starting something beautiful, something _significant_ here, Stark, uniting the superpowered groups and individuals in the world under a single all abiding law that protects us." He looks up from where Tony is still examining his hands. The short man stops for a moment, blinks his glowing blue eyes back to their beautiful brown color, looking almost confused. "I need to know if there can be any sort of relapse to watch out for. I'd rather not find out a friend has did himself in in such a way." After all, the files on the Extremis show that the thing could be downright explosive and quite literally, at that.

"I'm fine." Tony immediately says but it doesn't sound like a deflection or a meaningless reassurance. He sounds sincere and sure in his words. "I'm a little more than fine, actually. I haven't felt this good in years. I think I even _look_ younger."

"I couldn't tell." Stephen goes for the usual sarcasm instead of actually being truthful that he really _couldn't_. Obviously, despite the Extremis and its new healing ability that he got, lack of sleep and proper nutrition could still make a man look haggard. "So, does this make you enhanced or a mutant? Because I'm pretty sure you'll have to address that soon enough, especially with the Accords in power and the UN Council just _waiting_ for someone to make a mistake so they can troll us all."

"Technically, Boss is still a baseline human, Dr Strange." The female AI decided to answer instead of her creator. "He does not fulfill any of the 'requirements' to be labeled as either enhanced or mutant and Inhumans are a whole different category."

"But I saw here that the Extremis _does_ have enhancements. In strength, healing and some fire-breathing powers." Although that last one was more regarding the original virus. Tony had nearly stripped Extremis of all enhancements of the serum, instead replacing them with the ability to connect with machines. Technopathy and better healing abilities, that's what Tony had modestly settled for. "Not to mention the technopathy. I never heard of it, even among mutants, outside of movies, books and comics. How does that even work?"

"Well, the Extremis is actually nerve-recoding nanobots transfered in a liquid environment." Tony explained. "Technically speaking, it's not even me who is connected to the Internet and the like. It's the nanobots that have practically merged with my brain. Does that sound weird to you? Because being said out loud does. I just never noticed it before. J, is it weird?"

"On more levels than you may know, Sir." Came the snarky retort from the AI and Stephen just shook his head.

"Nice." Came the equally snarky reply from said AI's creator. "Anyway, I'm not a mutant since mutants' genetic mutations occurred because of radiation and mutagenic materials and factors that they come into contact with in every day life. Or rather, their parents. And mutant powers awaken when they reach teen years or early twenties. I'm _well_ past that."

"And the possibility of you being listed as an enhanced?" The doctor asked, going back to the reading material Tony was willing to offer him. He had to make sure nothing could harm Tony or hinder their further planning. It had been going great, so far. But this Extremis seemed ... Dangerous was one word for it. A miracle was another.

"I don't have superstrength or anything like that. I did for the first week plus some hours, but that faded after the worst of all of my injuries healed. Thank god for that because my left hand had almost gone to shit after the Civil War." Tony shuddered just at the mention of the fight and Stephen frowned. He knew most of what happened in Siberia, what _really_ happened, anyway, but Tony had never actually gone into detail about it. For one, Stephen didn't remember Tony ever telling him his left hand had been injured. "I'm really just a baseline human who can use his brain's electric waves to command nanobots, who in turn can connect to, well, anything. But I'm still just plain ol' Tony Stark. I'm just good with tech." The doctor shook his head, both at the smirk the other was wearing and the 'plain old' part because there was _nothing_ plain or old on Stark. Tony was the future and _always_ new.

"Is this dangerous to you?" Strange finally asked that which really interested him. He needed to know so he can act now. Or as soon as possible. "In any way? You said you can't get hacked because FRIDAY and JARVIS are watching your back. But can an EMP shut off the nanobots? Did you have any complications when you applied the serum?"

"It's not dangerous to me but it would be a slow and painful death sentence to anyone else. Sorry it can't help your ... You know." They both pointedly didn't look at Stephen's hands. It didn't bother him nearly as much as it used to but it still _bothered_ him. Especially the chronic pain. He just didn't like looking at them, watching them shiver and tremble and rainy or snowy days were a bitch. "And no. I ... After what happened with the Iron Monger, using that EMP blast to fry the impostor suit ... I updated everything Iron Man related to isolate any EMP attacks. My Arc Reactor was, obviously, the first that got that treatment but even my nanobots have it. So no worries there. And J and FRI can tell you _all_ about my procedure since they will either way, the little traitors."

"Of course, Sir."

"I have no regrets."

Tony snorted and shook his head minutely, seemingly in no rush to disengage Stephen's hand that still cradled his face. And wasn't _that_ awkward? Yet it somehow wasn't. It _should_ be but it wasn't. Weird. "Isn't it troublesome when your own kids turn on you?"

"Wouldn't know."

"What? The Cloak never pulled a prank on you?"

"Wha-? Of course it had. It loves messing with me on quiet days. What does that have to do with anything?" Tony just chuckled at him for that, shaking his head again and finally taking a step back, within arm's distance but still out of reach of Stephen's hand where it had previously been touching the genius. Stephen fought the impulse to pull him back in, to hold him and never let go.

"I swear, for someone so damn smart you sure are _oblivious_." The sorcerer frowned at that, sending Tony a mild glare that disappeared a second later, replaced by confusion at Tony's next question. "How are you taking this so well? Most people would be freaking out or choking me by now."

"Why _would _I freak out?" He didn't comment on the choking part for fear of going after Thor, Loki and the rouges right here and now. He'd be tempted to introduce them all to Dormammu and wouldn't regret it for a second.

"Well, because I have the power to access any computer in the world in a blink and I'm, well ... I'm me."

"You say that as though it hadn't been a possibility before." Stephen snorted, crossing his arms and finally dismissing the data on Extremis. He will trust Tony on his word that he is fine and he can always check on it with the Time Stone. "You can just do it quicker."

"And that doesn't bother you?" Stark sounded both cautious and shocked.

"Should it?"

"Yes." There was a raw, naked honesty in his voice and in his eyes that _really_ made the temptation to introduce Dormammu to his new roommates too much to resist. Stephen has become a patient man since he started learning the Mystic arts but even he damn well had his limits and just the _thought_ of how the rouges treated Tony was pushing those limits almost beyond breaking point.

"Well, it doesn't. I trust you to do the right thing with your new power and since you haven't toppled any of the world governments as of yet, I know that the power over the digital world is in the right hands." His declaration seemed to stun the genius and Stephen smiled sadly at his ... Well. "You're probably one of the few friends I have, Tony. I don't trust easy but I trust _you_. Can't that be answer enough?" He replied to the question unvoiced but so clear in Tony's eyes.

The brunet looked away for a moment before a shy but brilliant smile settled on his lips. "You know me probably better than you're letting on so I guess it will have to be enough. I won't disappoint you, Doc."

And just like that, Stephen was sure that their story had finally started.


	18. Chapter 18

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

When the two month mark hit that they hadn't seen or spoken to Tony outside of official meetings, training sessions and that one mission, Steve finally decided enough was enough and decided he was going to confront the billionaire in Avengers Tower - he refused to stroke the other's ego by calling it Stark when it had been the Avengers Tower for years - and end this childish tantrum of Tony's. Moving out of the Avengers Compound, not talking to them, turning their families and friends against them, ignoring them or leaving the room when they enter, turning the new recruits against them, stealing Shuri away, not making the _real_ Avengers any gear or making them go through all sorts of roundabout channels only for their gear to return at second rate quality, it was all coming to an end, _today_. The genius had had his fun. It was time he started acting like an adult again.

Only Steve's righteous march was met with a few problems on his way to Stark. For one, the Avengers' liaison had insisted that they _under no circumstances_ seek out 'Mr Stark' unless they make an appointment with him and the Accords Council beforehand, for one thing. The paparazzi waiting outside both the Compound and the Tower were another obstacle, what with their annoying questions and misguided half accusations. They didn't know what the so called Civil War was about and they had no right to bother Steve or the other Avengers with their unthoughtful questions. And behind the journalists and reporters were civilians, only in front of Avengers Compound the only fans present were Thor's and the Hulk's fans. A little separate from them were what Steve knew were now called haters and he could see why. They booed when he exited, accused him of treachery and murder and terrorism and called for him to be brought to justice.

The situation at Stark Tower, though, was completely different. There was an excitement and cheer to the atmosphere when Steve stepped out of a cab a few meters away from the building since it was so crowded. He saw what appeared to be Vision signing autographs for a few kids and posing in a picture or two with that awkward, polite smile before he entered the building. Security watched on with a look and air about them that Steve found disturbingly familiar but could not place even if his life depended on it. They became instantly alert if Steve's eyes on him and started discretely murmuring in their earpieces, probably alerting Tony that he was here. Steve didn't know how he felt about that but ignored them for the moment because the crowd had noticed him and started booing and demanding he go away. A little girl even burst into tears when she saw him, wailing to her father that they had to go save Iron Man. The reporters swarmed him a second later, asking much the same misguided questions as their counterparts back at the Compound and Steve smiled through grit teeth as he tried to give a statement that they weren't even listening to, demanding answers to their own questions, rather rudely. Back in his day, people respected when someone was trying to say something and let them say it in silence.

The security eventually intervened, although they looked none too happy about it. The taller of the two was even constantly fingering a familiar looking gun all the way to the elevator, where they told him he was expected and to _not_ try to get off on any other floors than the top floor. Since Steve only wanted to see Tony and talk with him, he assured them that he won't cause and trouble, only for the shorter to drag his college away when he lunged at Steve, hissing about him just _breathing_ was already problem enough. The receptionist at the deck was giving him the stink eye even though she looked professional and uninterested to anyone else. When the doors of the elevator closed, Steve glared at the animosity Tony had spread. The employees of Avengers Tower had always been nice to the Avengers. This just served as proof of just how bad Tony as a leader and the Accords as accepted laws that restricted and controlled superheroes were for the world and Steve was set on fixing it.

It was just him and Tony now. It was time for them to settle everything.

Only the first thing he saw when he entered Tony's floor in the Tower wasn't the pilot of the Iron Man himself. Instead, he was greeted with a girl charging at him with horrid looking _sharp_ claws sporting from her knuckles, an almost animalistic shriek escaping her lips while an adult man that shared her dark hair and eyes lunged for her to hold her back, swearing like a sailor as she kicked and screamed in his hold. She cut him a few times but the muscular man seemed to barely flinch. Steve _did_ flinch when three claws sprung from _his_ knuckles, close enough to the little girl's face that she instantly quieted down and stopped her trashing, almost as though _submitting_ to the adult. She retracted her claws but the glare in his direction was the nastiest thing Steve had _ever_ seen.

"Easy, bud. We _talked_ about this." The wild looking man scolded casually, as though this was an every day occurrence and Steve longer for his shield because _Tony, what have you **done** bringing these people here?_ "No attacking morons until they attack first, okay? _Okay_?"

"Si." The child all but spat, still glaring at Captain America but completely at ease in the man's arms. She huffed and turned her head away with a sniff, as though disgusted of just looking at him. The man restraining her sighed but the look he graced Steve with a second later was neither apologetic nor friendly. It was cold and impassive.

"Laura, go back to your friends. Take them to the room you were given. Stay with Vision." The girl, Laura, made to protest but the man gave her a severe look and she pouted but did as she was told, leading a group of children around her age out of the common room, where they had been watching some cartoon before Steve had arrived. He looked after them when the wild, _clawed_ man cleared his throat pointedly and Steve looked back to him, only to find him in a protective, aggressive stance, glaring at him now. "Can I _help_ you, Mr Rodgers?"

"It's actually Captain." The blond replied with a sheepish, polite smile which fell at the derisive snort from the stranger.

"No, it's not. You never finished basic training. You couldn't, not until you got the supersoldier serum. You're just a trained dancing monkey, now what do you want?"

A flare of anger and annoyance roared inside Steve but he brushed it aside. It was just like Tony to send out someone to face Steve just to be difficult. And someone who obviously just likes to hate people, especially Captain America. Steve worries for the kids he saw just a minute ago. They're all obviously enhances or superpowered or something and they were already being trained to be Stark's and the corrupt politicians' little soldiers. Steven was disappointed with Tony for using children like that. "I'm here to talk with Tony. It's about time this foolishness is put to a stop and for him to act like a reasonable adult."

The man, who has a strangely cut beard and a weird haircut, opens his mouth to say something but another, slightly slurred voice interrupts just before he can. "Wolwie~! Where _are_ you? You promised we could have a drink. Oh." A pretty woman in blue jeans and a black leather jacket with pale skin and dark hair enters the room and the smile slips off her face upon seeing Steve, replaced with a neutral expression and Steve wants to _scream_ because _why_ was Tony teaching people to treat them like this!? They weren't the enemy! "You didn't say we had a guest, Logan. To what do we owe this unwanted pleasure of the _good_ Captain's questionable company?"

"Beats me, Jess." The man, Logan, told this Jess with a shrug. "I was just waiting for Tony with the kids to see what he did 'bout 'em when Laura tried to cut his throat and I had to stop her." Jess came to stand beside Logan and the two observed the intruder with narrowed, suspicious eyes. "Says he's here to talk to the big man himself but I can't help wondering why."

"Probably to spout some bullshit again, like with the Witch. Where's the wizard when you need him? That Dark Dimension sounds like a place he deserves to be." The black haired woman snorted, clenching her fists and Steve automatically took on a more crouched, defensive stance when a vaguely familiar portal opens but a completely unfamiliar Asian man steps out, dressed in some strange brown robe like clothes.

"Don't tempt him. He's already itching to do it."

"Wong," both strangers nod to the new stranger, Wong, and Steve suddenly starts feeling overwhelmed. He came here to speak to Tony, hash things out with him and finally get the Avengers back together. Instead, he was almost assaulted by a kid, is being threateningly stared down by some weird guy with claws and a lady that reeks of alcohol and seems to hate his and Wanda's guts and now is face to face with another wizard. "What brings you here?"

"I wanted to have a word with Stark, since Stephen has avoided once again to bring to his attention some business that should have been addressed since day one." Wong goes even as far as to roll his eyes and Steve feels like that is a great and rare feat where this man is concerned. "Since Stephen is too chicken to bring it up and has fled into another dimension for the time being, I decided enough was enough and took matters into my own hands."

"Unfortunately, Tony's out of the country again." Yet another voice interrupts and they all turn to see a shy looking, expensively dressed young businessman smiling at them sheepishly. "He and Sue went to Latveria to finish up those negotiations he started last month. I think Hope met up with them when they stopped for the conference in England about the new Accords deal regarding Kamar-Taj, but I don't know."

"You didn't go with them?" Logan asked curiously and Steve felt really out of the loop. Kamar what now? What's that!? And since when has Tony felt comfortable enough around magic to let _two_ wizards run around his house? Or these strangers, for that matter!?

"They figured it would be for the best if _someone_ of the rich and famous and sane stayed behind. Something about someone watching Reed?"

"Yeah, that idiot definitely needs watching." Jess and Logan nod to Wong's words, which were delivered with yet another eye roll. "I thought Stephen put the fear of other dimensions in that man but he is still trying to build a machine which creates portals through space and time. How didn't Stark kill him for that?"

"He was simply lucky Susan got to him first." Jess said with a giggle and the Asian and wild looking men snorted while the nervous businessman just smiled humorously. But then the woman turned to him and arched an eyebrow. "You're still here?"

"I'm not leaving without talking to Tony," Steve responded sharply, drawing back his shoulders but neither of the three in front of him seemed impressed and the businessman whose name he still didn't know only frowned.

"Did you make an appointment? Doctor Doom did kind of call him last minute but I thought FRIDAY had covered his schedule."

"Doom?" That name was familiar but Steve couldn't put his finger on it from where. He just knew it was no good. Who would call themselves Doctor Doom?

"Yeah. Something about the UN. I don't know what exactly. Doom is a tough cookie but Tony says he has it under control." The still unnamed man said with a confident nod. Rodgers wondered what Tony had given or promised all these people for their support. He must have went out of his way to collect so many new faces. "He also said he'll hold a meeting with Professor Xavior and the UN and Accords Council regarding the kids and what the protocol should be for their situation. He had already arranged for an arrest warrant and sent the Iron Legion to deal with it but it would seem a whole new clause of the Accords has to be opened for this." He added, looking at the man apparently named Logan.

"What did Charles say about all this, Danny?"

"That you should stay here with the kids until at least the drafts are drawn up." Danny, apparently, said. "I'd give it a week because there is no way Strange is letting Tony stay in Latveria with Doom longer than two days after _the incident_."

Jess cackled at that, slumping against Logan as she tried to catch her breath. "Oh god! That was good! I thought Strange was going to start a magical war against Doom when Tony told us about that!" The cackling continued for a few more moments before the woman calmed down. "Is it bad of me to _want_ Doom to annoy Strange enough for that to happen?" Wong grimaced at that, obviously displeased, by what, though, Steve couldn't tell.

"Jessica," Danny bemoaned with a look of long suffering exasperated fondness that Steve believed matched his own expression whenever Tony used to act like this before, well ... Before everything. Before Ultron. Steve just wants to get things back to how they used to be before Ultron, the team living in the Tower and no loitering strangers around like there were now. It feels like a life time ago, not just under two years. And now that they were back, Steve had hoped everything could go back to how it used to be. He and Tony had been such a good team and yet now ... Well, the billionaire was doing everything in his power to prevent that from happening. Going so far as to let Steve get his hopes up by gaining entrance to the Tower only to realize Tony wasn't here ... _'Wait a minute.'_

"If Tony's not here then who let me into the Tower?" The supersoldier asked in as an authoritative voice as he could pull, drawing four pairs of eyes back to him, three outright glaring at him, one frowning in a mirror of his own confusion.

"That would be me, Mr Rodgers," a familiar voice said and Steve sighed, already looking around for Vision, only to find no one. He frowned and nearly jumped when the voice spoke again, seemingly coming from everywhere. "Have you forgotten about me so easily, Captain? Then again, you never did understand Sir and what he can do. To you, I was always but a machine. I don't know what I was expecting, but some common courtesy might have been it."

The 'Sir' comment is what did it. "JARVIS?" Steve asked incredulously because wasn't the AI _dead_? Ultron killed him, right? The crazy killer robot had said so himself right after he came online! And then Tony and Bruce had shoved what was left of JARVIS into that Cradle thing and out of it came Vision, right? There was no more JARVIS. Cold dread filled Steve's gut when he recalled how Tony had seemed obsessed with his AI. But he wouldn't, right? Not to Vision! Right? "What did Stark do?"

The four individuals in front of him bristled, Logan even going as far as to let his claws slide out again and Danny came down to hold Jess - or rather Jessica, Steve guessed - back. The Asian man was looking at him as though he were something unsightly that his ancient looking footwear had stepped into. And if Steve didn't have his enhanced hearing, he was sure he never would have heard the wiring in the wall crackle with electricity.

"I can assure you that Tony did not harm me in any way, Captain Rodgers." Another voice very similar to the brilliant AI's said from the direction that the kids from earlier had ran off to and Steve looked over to see a very disapproving Vision standing there with the same pack of kids, who all looked weary or afraid of him. Or angry, like that Laura girl. She seemed, for the lack of a better word, pissed. But Steve was just glad to see his teammate alive and fine and berated himself for so easily forgetting that he had not half an hour ago seen Vision interacting with his modest group of fans in front of the Tower. Worry had overtaken him for a second there. Vision did not seem to appreciate it. "Nor did he do anything I was not comfortable with or hadn't given my consent for. Not that it is any business of yours after running away for twenty months without ever even checking if any of us are alright because you were too busy breaking several international laws."

"The Accords are wrong, Viz." Steve said with a tight voice, ignoring the shorts of the kids and the other four strangers, focusing on his teammate.

"Have you even _read_ the Accords, buck?" Logan muttered under his breathe, which he also ignored. He couldn't ignore the glare Vision sent his way because he had _never_ seen the android glare before. It was actually quite intimidating.

"Captain Rodgers, I assure you that Secretary Ross had _nothing_ to do with _either_ Accords. The RAFT was explicitly his idea and doing and very much illegal. He is now imprisoned for life for his mistreatment of superpowered individuals, as well as a few others. The Accords were a response to _your_ irresponsible behavior. Tony only tried to protect you."

"He was only trying to protect himself and make himself look good in front of the press, like always." Rodgers rolled his eyes at Vision's naivety. He should probably stop spending so much time around Tony. It appears that he's been corrupting Vision in his free time.

"I am contacting Doctor Strange." FRIDAY, who had been up to now silent and observing and had gotten sick of it how this traitor was talking of her creator, said as though it was a threat and Steve recognized the name. Wasn't that wizard that tied them all up and then marched away with Tony called Doctor Strange?

"What, Tony's allies with our enemies now?"

Wong sent him a deadpan look before opening a portal. "Don't bother, FRIDAY. The reception won't reach him in the realm he is now. I've got it. Exposing sorcerers to the world seems like a small price to pay to watch Stephen deal with this misguided fool." Then he stuck his head through the flaming wheel of sparks that hung midair and shouted for the other wizard. There was an enraged "WHAT!?" from the other side and Wong pulled back with a satisfied look, enlarging the portal and taking a few steps back as if to give someone enough space to step through.

"That won't be necessary, Mr Wong." JARVIS spoke again and Steve heard the familiar, telltale sound of repulsors charging. He tensed, looking around but seeing no one there but he _felt_ the heat of the repulsors at his back. He looked cautiously over his shoulder but found nothing, only to jump away in fright when an Iron Man armor materialized from thin air. "The Stealth Armor will _gladly_ escort Mr Rodgers out."

"JARVIS, there's no need for you to act like this-"

"Oh, but there _is_." The usually polite AI all but spat, if that was at all possible with a computer. "You forget, Mr Rodgers, that I am Sir's creation. I have hacked SHIELD. An abandoned bunker in the middle of Siberia is as easy for me to hack as it is for you to crash a Vibranium shield into Sir's Arc Reactor." There is a venom in JARVIS words that a robot should never be able to produce and the fury in Vision's eyes seems to match the fury and outrage of the other current residents of the top floor of the Tower. "Now please remove yourself politely from Stark Tower and all other Stark properties other than the Avenger Compound or you will force my _hand_," the charged repulsor shone brightly in preparation for attack to make a point. "Don't make me take out the Hulkbuster Armor."

Steve left the Avengers Tower with a thunderous scowl on his face, feeling utterly humiliated and the jeers of the crowds didn't help. No matter. He'll get Tony to talk to him when he's actually back. He'll catch him alone and they'll finally settle all of this so things can finally go back to normal. No more magic users except Wanda, who they can trust not to attack her own teammates, the _good guys_. No more strange random people wandering around the Tower. And definitely no more haters.

He just needs to talk to Tony.


	19. Chapter 19

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

"I'm sorry, _what_!?" Stephen glared at Wong while Tony gawked at him. This was not at all how he had wanted to broach this subject with the genius, _especially_ not when he first visited the New York Sanctum Sanctorum after his second visit with Doctor Victor Von Doom. God, did Stephen hate that man. He had some frankly mutant like abilities that he used to develop his own form of magic and dared call himself a sorcerer, giving the rest of them at Kamar-Taj a bad name. But that is beyond the point right now - definitely as he didn't hate him because Doom had seen how brilliant Tony is and tried to convince him to stay in Latveria. _As his consort_. Definitely not that. Stephen will insist on it to his dying breath - as Tony looked near to having an anxiety attack right there. Stephen swore he will get back at Wong for this.

"I said you must begin training in the Mystic Arts, Stark." Wong repeated as though it is the most casual of things to talk about with one of the most scientifically oriented minds of today and not an utter blasphemy where Tony was concerned. And Tony definitely wasn't taking it as well as Wong had thought he would. "It is apparent both you and Stephen have forgotten _how_ and _why_ the two of you even met."

"To plan defense against Thanos." Tony replied immediately but Stephen stiffened. Wong is right. He _had_ forgotten all about Mordo and his quest to rid the world of all sorcerers who weren't using their powers for the sake of protecting reality and the multiverse. And Tony was a target, an important one, at that, due to the abnormally large energy signature he was giving off for a baseline human. "You know, the big bad that's headed our way? Loki said he resembled a wrinkly, purple grape and, quite frankly, I'd rather not find out if his description has some merit or if he's just pulling my leg."

"And while that is true, we only found out about _that_ when we looked into _you_." The older sorcerer replied, throwing a stink eye Stephen's way. The Sorcerer Supreme couldn't help but feel that he deserved it, even if he didn't agree with the reasoning behind it or the way Wong was bringing it up. Wong still didn't exactly approve of Stephen looking into the future with the use of the Time Stone like he had but the Asian had cut him some slack after the threat to the Earth was revealed. But what disapproved of even more was the fact that Stephen was ... _stalling_ in telling Tony that he needs to learn at the least the very basics of the Mystic Arts. And Stephen _had_ been stalling, for fear of chasing the engineer away.

"Yeah, I remember that, now that you mention it." Tony said with a frown. "That ... Mado dude? The one that's been stealing your magic and leaving you like normal boys and girls all over the world and that has some unreasonable grudge against me?"

"Yes, him. Karl Mordo." Wong says with a nod. "He is a Master of the Mystic arts and a very good one. He can use _two_ relics at the same time, which requires quite some skill. What's more, he was trained by the Ancient One herself and used to go where she goes. He is a strong sorcerer and it is very easy for him to overpower all those whose powers he wishes to strip away. Unfortunately, that involves _you_, too. It is Kamar-Taj's best kept secret that you have a natural supply of usable energy within you, Tony Stark. Only a small handful of people was aware of this and, unfortunately for us, Mordo must have found out from one of them because he was _not_ originally in that handful. You may be protected by us at Kamar-Taj and his wish to keep up the sorcerers' presence on Earth a secret from the rest of the world, but that will not protect you forever. It may come to the point where we cannot reach you and your armor, no matter how good you make it, might not be enough. Knowing how to defend yourself from a magical assault will only help you."

"You could teach me to defend against _any_ magical attack?" Stephen was surprised to hear the tentative interest in Tony's voice and started rummaging through his memories to try and figure out what could _possibly_ interest Tony about magic before their meeting with Thanos.

"Any and all. It will require study and practice, but only the multiverse is the limit where the Mystic Arts are concerned."

"How about mind control? Can you stop that?" That question made both sorcerers freeze, turning horrified and intrigued eyes both on the fidgeting genius. His eyes flashed that Arc Reactor blue a few times and Stephen wondered what JARVIS or FRIDAY were telling him now. Probably something along the lines of calming down. He hoped it was. He had dealt with Stark's panic attacks in those fourteen million visions of the future but that did not mean he was eager for a life performance.

"Do you fear someone is controlling you, Stark?"

"No, I _know_ no one is controlling me because I have full access to J and FRI. Since no one but Vision and you two knows about my ... Yeah. So if anyone _were_ controlling me, they'd know and we'd try something right away. They know how to deal with that. I'd still feel better knowing that I can stop it from happening from the start."

Of course. Mind control. The Scarlet Witch and her telepathic abilities, along with telekinesis and whatever her Mind Stone begotten powers entail. Stephen narrowed his eyes. Tony had once mentioned that he knew the feeling of being unmade rather intimately. Stephen had never asked for details time line, which he regretted now, but he remembers clearly from another how Tony had said being around Maximoff made him feel, each and every time, like he was being mind-raped again and again and again. No wonder Tony would ask first if he can defend himself from such an attack. He probably felt vulnerable. And perhaps that was why he wanted Extremis not to make him an enhanced individual but to give him unlimited and unrestricted access to the two entities in this world who knew him and whom he trusted more than anyone.

Giving him back JARVIS was definitely the best thing Stephen could have done to earn himself Tony's trust.

"So, can you teach me to block that?" Tony looked so damn hopeful and was actually _considering_ magic as a solution that Stephen couldn't stop a warm and reassuring smile from spreading across his lips.

"Yes, we can teach you how to protect your mind." The Sorcerer Supreme answered and was rewarded with a grateful look from his friend while Wong just rolled his eyes at them. Wong and Tony got along like a house on fire as soon as they were introduced to each other. Stephen, on some days, regretted ever letting the two meet but mostly was just glad to have his close friends so at ease with each other. "We will need to start with meditation, anyways, for you to find some form of center and peace in yourself and in your mind before we can start manipulating dimensional energy. And by that I do mean actual _peace_ of mind. Not chatting with FRIDAY and JARVIS or inventing or anything like that, Tony."

"For your information, I can't stay connected to the Internet _forever_." Stephen almost relaxes when Tony finishes his thought. "Not yet, I need to build up stamina for that. But, anyway, it's not like I'd slack off or something." That _does_ put Stephen at ease. He's glad Tony will take these lessons seriously, at least. "So, when do we start?"

"Right now." Both geniuses turn to look at the stern Wong, whose voice broke no arguments. Stephen glares at him again because he will _not_ force Tony into this, no matter how necessary it might be for the hoped for outcome. He can't just-

"Okay, sure. I have, uh" he pauses, obviously consulting his AIs before nodding. "I have the next two hours free before I have that debrief with Logan. And what's this I bear about an unapproved magical near hunting spree?" When both Stephen and Wong scowl recalled what happened just a couple of days ago, Tony frowns in confused concern. "Um, okay. What did I miss? Did Slytherin win the last competition? Did the Evil Witch of the West come and take the red slippers? Don't tell me _Morgana_ came and defeated Merlin here?"

Stephen glared at him at that. The most accurate of all the teasing descriptions was the Merlin bit, since he was actually, from what Stephen understands, the Ancient One's teacher, one of the former Sorcerer Supremes, not that he will ever tell Tony that. And he glared harder just at the thought of talking to Tony about Steven - why did they have to share variations of the same name?! Life is so not fair and he doesn't care how teenage girl that sounds - Grant Rodgers just when they are supposedly to start meditation and Tony needs to be as relaxed as he can be. He knows if he mentions Rodgers now, especially what and when and where it happened, Tony won't be able to calm down again for several days. That only promises more wasted days and a pissier Wong. And while Stephen honestly wants to stall this for as long as he can, he knows Wong is right and that time was slowly but surely running out.

Not that they've been doing nothing in the two months they've been working together to protect the Earth. Tony and his little science group have made the satellite web and Stephen had not only covered that small opening that the design can't cover if they want the satellites and the shields working at maximum capacity, but he and the other Masters have managed to create another, different magical shield that wrapped around the Earth at all times. Unfortunately, both shields are still penetrable but they'll more than slow down their enemies, especially as New Asgard has agreed to lend a handful of their warrior to live in a small, discrete space station designed by Tony, Reed and Shuri. Meanwhile, a second, smaller group of scientists has managed to figure out a way to make it easier for Heimdall to open the Bifrost. Jane and Dr Selvig insist that Heimdall with their new device could transport entire fleets without breaking a sweat as opposed to his previous efforts where he had nearly collapsed into a coma after transporting the one ship relocating what is left of Asgard's people to Earth. The device is attached to the man's sword and he is standing guard, like always, in front of (New) Asgard. He had immediately agreed to keep an eye out on any who would dare approach Earth with hostile intentions.

Stephen had also had the pleasure of meeting Betty and Helen, as well as exchanging a few words with Dr Wu, who was Tony's personal doctor regarding anything sternum and Arc Reactor related. It had been nice to have his medical opinion asked for after the last couple of years and the four of them had managed to put together a proper medical checkup system for the New Avengers. Captain Marvel had even contacted her Kree allies to see if they had seen anything unusual as of late heading for Earth or heard any rumors about Thanos, which they learned, to their horror, that there are some news.

Thanos had invaded and raided Xandar and was currently in the possession of the Power Stone and the Infinity Gauntlet. The Kree-Skrull war had even stopped in fear of drawing his attention and having half of their peoples face genocide for 'universal balance', or so Carol said and she sounded as incredulous about that as probably the rest of the universe since those two species have never seen eye to eye but, apparently facing extinction has finally made them consider a ceasefire. That, at least, will help them fight off Thanos if he comes, their forces not divided between their war and the war for the survival of the universe.

But all of this did, now that Stephen was facing one of the musts for the survival of the universe he can influence, was bring into the light just how much this is necessary. There will come a time when Tony will desperately need knowledge of the Mystic Arts and Stephen knew that it's not only because Thanos comes. Mordo was a very real, very immediate threat. He had been keeping a low profile for a while now, so it was only logical that he was preparing for something big and no doubt very bad for their resident Iron Man. Perhaps he should become less emotionally and personally invested in Tony. It would do him well to separate himself from him professionally, or else Stephen will become truly compromised.

"Let's begin." He, as well as his two- three, if you count the Cloak of Levitation, which he did - companions, was surprised by how cold and bland that came out, no inflation at all in his voice, flat. Emotionless. Wong was already frowning at him in confusion while Tony was looking at him with concern, suddenly seeming cowed for some reason. Stephen brushed it aside and started levitating in a meditating position with his legs crossed, arms resting on his thighs and knees. Tony watched him for a long moment before smoothing his expression into a blank one and copying his position on the floor, getting comfortable. Wong shot a disapproving look at Stephen for whatever reason before he exited the library at the Sanctum to pick up Stephen's slack as the Master of the Sanctum.

It took him an hour to get Tony relaxed enough for it to even be considered the beginning of meditation, but after that, it was surprisingly smooth sailing for a beginner who didn't even want to believe in magic despite everything he had seen. Stephen was both surprised and not at all with how quickly the mystic energies took to Stark. It was interesting to feel the magic flowing freely in the Sanctum wrap around him muck like the Cloak wrapped around Stephen. Magic, no matter how gifted he was for the Mystic Arts, never came so easily to him. He, like everyone else, had to put in the effort to call upon it and yet here was Tony Star, simply meditating, not even reaching for the other dimensions to draw power and yet it still came.

Then again, he supposed it was to be expected. After all, it was the best kept secret of Kamar-Taj that Tony Stark possessed his own reserves of energy with which he could do magic. That same energy for which Mordo was targeting him could be his defense if he ever learned to control it. It could be his greatest defense and weapon if he masters even the most basic of spells. A simple shield will do. A burst of raw magic. Anything to protect him long enough for his armor to become available or for someone else to come to help him.

It was interesting to watch the look of concentration on Stark's face as he focused on his breathing and cleared his mind. FRIDAY and JARVIS both knew not to disturb them unless it was an emergency. In the hour that they simply meditated, Stephen realized this was the most still he had seen the engineer. Tony was always in motion. Even when he was standing still, his eyes or his hands were always doing _something_. It was kind of weird, even, but in some odd, good way. It was a new side to the man that not even fourteen thousand plus glimpsed futures could show him.

It was the two most silent hours they've ever spent in each other's presence and the silence was somewhere between professional and awkward. The atmosphere was definitely heavier than ever before between them and for once Stephen didn't try to think of a way to resolve it. He and Tony were both already too invested in this for either of them to back out but was it fair on Tony for Stephen to take away a friend from him just because he realized he had become too fond of the man? Because he feared becoming even _closer _to him?

Not that it mattered, anyway. Tony was probably already thinking he had just been using him or something and won't let Stephen get close again. He can just imagine what sort of thoughts were running through the billionaire's mind-

"Okay, no." The suddenness of that statement startled Stephen enough for him to fall out of his meditative state and straight to the floor beneath him since he had apparently pissed off the Cloak. He looked up after a wince to see a scowling Tony. "This right here?" He pointed between them with an accusing finger. "Not happening. You did _not _become my third favorite person and my facial hair bro just to ditch be because of- _Why _are you acting like such a whiny bitch all of a sudden?"

"Only third?" Strange challenged, not even going into the bag of cats that was the whole 'facial hair bro' thing. He had seen universes in which he had even reciprocated the notion but he'd rather not.

"JARVIS is awesome and you kinda need to spend three years as my roommate to get first place. Actually, you're fourth place. Pepper is third, but only because she tried to get me to go to meetings when she was my personal assistant. Now she just tells me where to be or threatens me that she'll take away my toys." The genius frowned again, in contemplation this time, before shaking his head. "Nope." He popped the P. "There's FRIDAY now, too, right under J, so that puts you a few pegs further down because there's also Happy and now Spiderling. And Yinsen. Like, Yinsen is somewhere Rhodey level and Rhodey's right under my kids."

"I'm flattered." Stephen rolled his eyes, stealing a glance at his broken watch. It was still working, somehow, but the glass was so cracked it was near impossible to tell the time. Still, it _looked _like they had ten more minutes and he doubted Tony will be up to regaining the Zen he had had before he jumped into this conversation. "You can go now, the lesson is over for today."

"Nope." Tony denied again, uncrossing his legs so he can drag himself closer to the sorcerer. "Not gonna happen until you tell me what the hell crawled up your ass and died that you're suddenly acting like you didn't take over one of my work stations so you can study BARF, Rhodey's prosthetics and anything else medical related that SI has me making as well as reading all those new papers on medical advancements and achievements. Peter's still sharing mine, I'll never give Richards one because he'd blow my lab up like he does his twice a month and it took Bruce two months to get a workbench in _my _lab. I had made him his own but he used to always come into mine because it was livelier and so much cooler but had the same equipment." Tony listed on his fingers, only a few inches away from Stephen, their knees almost touching. "Dr Selvig doesn't like me enough to be comfortable in my workshop, Betty likes to do her own thing and I'm not letting Darcy within ten feet of my teasers for fear of what she'd do with them and she's kind of a package deal with Jane, so just no. And while Hank and I are finally not separated by his hate for my old man, he's not one for sciencing all night long so he doesn't work with me or in my lab. But _you _do."

He said is as thought it meant something.

It did.

And Stephen knew it. He stayed silent, not meeting Tony's eyes. The engineer sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Listen. Please don't do this? I don't know why you're suddenly pushing me away but believe me, speaking here from personal experience, that's the _last_ thing you want to do." That had green-blue eyes meeting with hazel brown ones, interest peaked. "I was _dying_ when I did that and wasn't thinking straight but I still _knew_ it was wrong. So please don't push me away. I ... I really consider you a good friend. So can we not? Fight or distance ourselves or whatever this is? I have had so few friends in my life that I can't bear to lose another."

Stephen, as much as he wanted to stay true to his resolution not to get closer or any fonder of Tony, gave in, feeling his face soften as he took in how truly nervous and _desperate_ the genius sounded. He let out a sigh and put a trembling hand on Tony's knee, whose eyes widened when he saw a small smile playing around Stephen's lips. Stephen couldn't deny it anymore when his heart fluttered at the genuine smile Tony rewarded him with. It was small but so, so warm that Strange feared he'd melt right there. There was no denying it.

_'I'm whipped.'_

And he was surprisingly okay with that.


	20. Chapter 20

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

"I can't believe we're going through this shit." Steve looked up when Clint came into the common room of the Compound, grumbling about the Accords revisions they have been presented with two and a half months ago. They have all gone through them at least once and the only one who had signed was Scott. He signed as Ant Man and will go through a probation period while he uses the suit to help repair the planes he destroyed in Leipzig before he will get an evaluation to see if he can join the New Avengers roaster. Apparently Hank Pym and his daughter have accepted him back and he was staying at Avengers Tower with all the other new recruits on weekends, which is where he was now. That way, he got to be with his daughter and make it up to Ms Van Dyne and Dr Pym while still being properly on probation and under house arrest. Steve was glad Tony at least set that deal for him but he was angry at the billionaire for not arranging something similar for Clint and his family, too.

Although he might not have been able to.

From what Steve got from a bruise-cheeked Clint when the man tried to sneak in a visit with his wife when she was walking Nathaniel with that new Carol Danvers in the park a week ago, Laura was damn straight serious about not wanting to have anything to do with Clint until he _pulled himself together and actually thought about his family_, her exact words quoted by Hawkeye himself. She had punched him when he tried to hug her and Colonel Danvers had asked - read commanded - him to leave before she was forced to make him herself, thus ending any and all hope of ever seeing his family again not from behind bars. She had threatened with divorce a few times and was actually dead serious about it, if Natasha's impromptu meeting with her was anything to go by. Laura had apparently had enough and was finally expressing that to Clint now that she didn't have anything from his old job to rely on.

Except Tony. Tony had apparently managed to get the Bartons off of their farm before Ross got to them while he was still free. And they weren't the only ones, either, like Scott's family, Thor's ex girlfriend and her makeshift family and even Bruce's old sweetheart. Natasha had not seemed to react upon hearing that but she had been clinically cold while she recounted the events. Bruce and Thor didn't yet know about that and no one was all that bothered with telling them.

In fact, they had next to no contact with those two. The reason was a black haired, green and black dressed trickster god like wall standing between them. The Avengers couldn't believe either Thor or Bruce would ever accept Loki into the fold, even with Thor's soft spot for him. The man was a criminal, a murderer and a terrorist and on more than one planet! He lied and deceived and yet he was welcomed like an unruly child, a wayward son that had finally seen the error of his ways. What's more, he was signing the Accords with those new wizards that Tony likes to keep around! Loki will be a consultant for the New Avengers! Loki! What was Tony _thinking_?! But Thor had seemed delighted, as had Bruce - who had apparently become somewhat friends with the crazy god during his (the Hulk's) stint as a space gladiator - that tall black guy with creepy glowing eyes and the always drunk female warrior that stuck around Thor, Bruce and Loki most of the time.

Steve couldn't believe Tony was going out of his way to get Loki a pardon - and going as far as to make him a victim of the same torture Clint went through at the power of the Mind Stone in the Scepter - when he wasn't doing anything for his _actual_ team. Any more visits to Avengers Tower were prevented either at the secretary's desk where the woman would smile scarily at them while saying 'Mr Stark' was out or one of the new residents in the Tower would all but physically throw them out. There was that one memorable time when that Living Flame from the Fantastic Four and some teenager going by the name Inferno teamed up and nearly _roasted_ Natasha out when she tried to sneak in. On another occasion, a invisible forcefield generated by the Invisible Woman had prevented Clint from entering the building through the vents. When Sam went to negotiate with Rhodes or Tony about getting back his Red Wings, he was met by a guy who introduced himself as Erik - it was Magneto from the Brotherhood, there to discuss their signing of the Accords with Tony in order to avoid the much less accommodating Mutant Registration Act, which Sam only learned after the guy magnetized all of his hidden weapons and other devices off of his person and _crushed_ the Wakandan technology like it was nothing.

Even T'Challa had made an effort on their part, only to meet a guy called Black Bolt, king of the Inhumans they had been hearing about in the news. The man couldn't speak but his companion - some pink haired woman whose hair was longer than a cape and strong enough to apparently not be cut by Vibranium or torn by a superpowered individual, even the Hulk or Thor - spoke in his name and neither were impressed with T'Challa's apparent 'misguided entitlement' to Tony's time when even _they_ and the Asgardians all scheduled a meeting in advance. Shuri had all be dragged him out by his ear, berating him in Wakandan the whole way. T'Challa professedly apologized to the other king and Tony and had stayed in tentative contact with the engineer.

Wanda fell into a portal and kept falling for three hours until she was released.

Buck told them he won't even try.

Steve, on the other hand, had went to the Tower three more times and each time had been a different experience. Once, he met The Thing of the Fantastic Four and the rock mutated man had given him the option of walking away or finding out just how _indestructible_ his skin was now. The second time, he had met a blind lawyer who apparently had sharper hearing than even him and who promptly presented him with a lawsuit that will be processed if he doesn't leave. The third time, he met an ordinary kid with a not so ordinary potato gun that screamed Stark tech. He didn't say anything or wait for Steve to say something. He just fired and the shot knocked Captain America over like it was a bazooka shot. Steve was reluctant to try again.

Even Fury, Hill and Coulson had had their own horror stories to tell. Fury met some guy with indestructible skin, Hill was prompted telepathically to leave the building by Professor Xavior and Coulson had to be webbed and carried out by Spider-man after he tried to taze the kid. All of their attempts to sneak into the Avengers Tower then culminated with Ms Potts restriction order, brought over by the terrifying little claw girl and a pair of smug teenage girls who did the whole 'You've been served' thing before leaving the Compound. From what Fury could tell them, the little terror was Wolverine's genetic child that Stark was fighting for the rights of, the dark skinned teen was Ms Marvel, an Inhuman, while the third girl was a baseline human, Michelle or something like that, a supposed friend of Spider-man's and as such falling under Stark's protection protocols. He at least got right _that_ much.

Point was, the Avengers were not getting back into Avengers Tower, no matter how silly or unbelievable the notion seemed. It was instead filled with pretentious impostors and criminals and they were treated like royalty while the _actual_ Avengers were struggling to buy food in the public cafeteria that the Avengers Compound now sported. What was worse, they couldn't even complain about the prices or the food quality. Stark had actually arranged for food to be only 10% of the price you would get at the cheapest restaurant, his staff and their new Accords liaison - the old one had quit after having a stroke when he saw the restriction order - even told them it was because superheroeing didn't pay much and Stark wanted them as actually semi-functional humans. When they asked why semi-functional, the rude cook that seems to have so _had_ it with them had replied that it was obvious they lacked a _brain_, which had ended with the woman almost comatose when Wanda lashed out.

The Scarlet Witch had just received a call to court for her actions and Steve didn't know if Clint was raging about that or because Laura had once again forbade him from seeing his kids. It must sting to watch the gossip channels all gushing about how Stark was taking out the various children that now inhabited the tower out for ice cream or hot dogs with their families and at least two other superpowered adult individuals. Vision and that wizard seemed to be his default choices, as they were spotted with them the most often, but there had been instances with all the others, too. The reporters were definitely cooing the most about Cassie and her adoration of her father and that little terror and that Logan guy, whom she seemed to drag _everywhere_ whenever she got the chance.

Steve sighed, turning off the TV just as Tony announced that he was buying the whole parlor a round of ice cream and kids, their parents and other random passerby cheered. "What is it now, Clint?" He asked since no one else seemed to be going to. Wanda was still fuming over the court call, Sam was reading something on the phone T'Challa had given them as a parting gift before he went back to Wakanda - leaving Shuri with a couple of Dora Milaje in Tony's less than capable or trustworthy hands but Steve figured Shuri can take care of herself and it might just be an infiltration stunt, for all he knows; not that either Scott or Shuri seemed all to keen to talk to them these days, let alone share Stark's secrets and even T'Challa seemed resignedly fond of the genius. Tony had that affect on people and Steve was disappointed in him for using it for such reasons - and frowning and Natasha was on her own phone, reading some book in Russian or something.

Hawkeye huffed and threw himself on one of the incredibly expensive and unsurprisingly comfortable couches with a half scowl, half pout on his face. "I turned in a request for meeting Stark about negotiating the whole 'not fixing the bow because it's a _weapon_ and Mr Stark no longer develops weapons for anyone but the Avengers' thing."

"Were you denied on the spot?" Sam asked, looking up from his phone but Clint surprised them when he shook his head.

"No, Stark accepted the request."

"Then what's the problem?" The Captain asked, confused. And elated. This was good news. Tony was willing to meet with Clint, which meant not all was lost! Here Steve was thinking they'd have to resort to Wanda's plan of cornering the genius when he was least expecting them. Although that was now infinitely more difficult, if not downright impossible, since Stark had his guard dog AI JARVIS back. Steve had never been comfortable around him since the computer seemed to know _everything_ and _see_ everything. Still, this was good. Steve had hope that they could make things right at least.

"The problem id that I need a fix and an upgrade _yesterday_ but Stark's schedule is packed for the next _seventeen months_!" The archer snapped, punching a pillow in his frustration. "How does he expect us to fight if we don't have the gear for it!? And that's not even mentioning that he made Laura come to the meeting when I turned in the request just to hear her say 'no'. Who does Stark think he is!?"

"We can't wait for seventeen months!" A half panicked Sam exclaimed. He had turned in a request for Red Wing just the other day and was still awaiting a response. The wait was 'due to political and legal reasons' but it would seem he might never get a response. Which meant he was grounded. Maybe for good.

Sam was right. To wait for Tony for seventeen months would just make the whole fixing the team thing harder, since there were no scheduled Avengers meetings until the end of the month. Tony already had too much ammunition against them and held too much power over the Avengers. Seventeen months would be a _disaster_. "How did those others make appointments if his schedule is so busy?"

"Apparently, he has two hours each day reserved for Avengers related business, two for Accords business and three for UN related things." Clint grumbled. "When I heard that and pointed out it _was_ avengers related business, Laura told me it was decidedly _not_. That it was _weapons development_ related business, that it was something not even the R&D department could help with. Although I was free to drop in a request with them, too. They'd fix it but no new shiny upgrades. That's apparently reserved only for the _New_ Avengers who had signed the Accords. Just like with the visitation rights." He added bitterly and Steve, for a moment, feared Clint would crack and snap under the pressure. Being away from his family obviously bothered him, as was to be expected. And not being able to go out onto the field won't help matters any. "I did that, anyway, and will at least have it fixed by the end of the month. It won't feel right."

"You're not your bow, Clint." Rodgers reassured him but Barton just barked an incredulous laugh at him that sounded somewhat hysterical. "You don't need those fancy upgrades."

"No, but I always loved them. Stark is practically a mind reader and he always delivered whatever crazy request I bothered to actually put in. And we used to test them out together. That was fun. Especially since I wasn't wanted in SHIELD anymore. The Tower was a sanctuary. I guess I should be glad Laura and the kids are there. At least they're safe. Safer than they'll ever be, in fact, even when I'm around them." The tired should-be-retired archer rubbed his hands over his face. "I saw Cooper on my way out. He didn't even _look_ at me."

"Hey," Wanda said as she put a hand on Clint's shoulder, her anger forgotten in the face of her teammate's troubles. That's the sort of team bonding Tony never understood and that's why he tore the Avengers apart so easily. "We'll get through this. Stark will fuck up soon enough and they'll realize his Accords are just a waste of paper and time and we'll be the heroes again. You'll get to go back to your family, Clint. You will."

"Doesn't matter." Said man mumbled but didn't shrug her hand off. "And it looks more unlikely each day. He's playing a good game here, the _long_ game. And he has support. We don't have _anything_ and the New SHIELD are doing their best not to fall under Stark's foot. Coulson said they suspect Stark hacked them but there is no trace, no sign of hacking, nothing. They're descending into paranoia and Loki refuses to let Thor associate New Asgard with us. All we can do is wait for _seventeen fucking months_ before we can meet with Stark and _beg_ for mercy."

"We won't be doing any begging." Wanda hissed in promise, squeezing Clint's shoulder. He flinched away from the hand when he felt her powers slipping and Steve frowned, wondering if he should have a talk with her. She had been more explosive as of late and that's not good for their tattered public image _or_ the team dynamics. "If anyone's going to beg, it's going to be _Stark_." She fairly spat the name out and Steve once again wondered whether they should have a talk.

"_Doesn't matter_." Barton repeated. "He's won. We can't get in. And we will _never_ be able to meet him before the seventeen months are up."

"Then we'll just make him meet us." Natasha finally spoke up, pocketing away her phone just as a security guard led in a pretty, chestnut haired woman with brown eyes and a pale-ish complexion, dressed in jeans and a nice shirt with a coat over it. The weather had been a bit chilly for this time of year. There was an intelligent gleam in her eyes as they curiously swept over them, obviously recognizing them all hut apparently not knowing what to think. "Dr Christine Palmer, I presume." Nat said as she rose from her seat and extended a hand to the other woman, who took it cautiously. "We were expecting you."

"Thank you." The woman, some kind of doctor apparently, said politely before taking her hand back and looking around some more. "This place is amazing. I can't believe I'm actually here. It's certainly an honor to have a project invitation from Dr Stark himself and especially for such a delicate case."

The men and Wanda all startled at that but Natasha seemed to have no reaction at all. "It is an honor to have you. We are sure you can handle it. After all, Tony always hires only the best."

This woman, Palmer, only chuckled and shook her head. "Well, that title fell to me only by default since the best of the best can't practice anymore. I'm surprised he hadn't taken up consulting Stephen, though. He knows neurosurgery and the human brain and body better than the body itself, or so you get the impression when watching him work. I thought you were colleges now?"

"We work in different teams, I'm afraid. A new structure to appease the UN."

"I see." But clearly she didn't. "So, where is the meeting? How many other specialists has Dr Stark called in? I'm surprised he's sharing the Binarily Augmented Retro-Framing technology after he's been keeping it on the down-low for so long. It's quite revolutionary, really. Even if it's technically only a prototype. Dr Stark has outdone himself." And Steve could tell she definitely really was impressed and in awe of Tony's technology. He could understand that. Ever since he woke up from the ice, he'd been faced with dozens if not hundreds of patents under that man's name each day. Stark technology was top of the line and only became more extravagant with each passing day. Iron Man was still, without a doubt, the crowning jewel of it all but BARF was pretty neat, too. If only Tony would let Bucky use it ...

"I'm afraid Mr Stark has been a bit delayed. He'll cover everything with you when he arrives, if only you'd wait a moment. Until then, feel free to help yourself to anything," Nat cut into his thoughts again and he turned to see her gesturing at the finger sandwiches she had bought with money gotten only god knows from where. Steve had thought Natasha had bought them for the team but now she was offering them to some random doctor. Sure, it always paid off to be a good host but they were kind of on a budget here.

"Nat, what are you doing?" He asked her in a hushed voice as soon as she came back to their group, Palmer walking over to take a few of the sandwiches.

The blond only took out her phone and dialed a number they all knew pretty well. "Ensuring Stark has a reason to meet us."

"What does that woman have to do with Stark?" Wanda asked, now glaring at Palmer's turned back in the default manner she has for anyone associated with Tony these days. The woman seemed oblivious but she _did_ look around as though expecting something to jump out at her any moment now. That or she was just intrigued by the Compound. Both were a possibility.

"I don't know but I _do_ know that Stark has given charity to Metro-Central Hospital, where she works, and has founded a project she was developing. A medical procedure I couldn't even begin to comprehend when I read about it. The Palmer-Strange method." They all arched an eyebrow at that and turned to look at the woman again, appraising her because hadn't that wizard introduced himself as _Doctor_ Strange? Or was it just a coincidence. Maybe Strange in the Palmer-Strange isn't a name. God only knows Tony gave stupid names to some of his greatest inventions. _Just A Rather Very Intelligent System_ for the most advanced computer program Steve had come across, even in Wakanda? Please. BARF for the most revolutionary therapeutic device in the past two decades? Only Tony. So who were _they_ to judge? And if Tony was funding it, it's almost 70% chance that it was _he_ who added that 'strange' part. "I don't know if there's an actual connection but when I spoke to her and just now, she appeared not at all surprised that Tony _knows_ her but rather that he _remembered_ or _thought_ of her when thinking of expanding the research on BARF. So they have obviously met and you know how Stark is. If he's throwing his money at something, he's already invested enough to care. He'll show up."

And while that sounded like a sound theory and just the kind of thing Tony might do, this was still a _civilian_ that they were practically holding against her will here. Only it wasn't against her will, not really. She wasn't kidnapped, she had come on her own. She hadn't expressed a desire to leave so they hadn't denied her. She had food and could move around as she wished, so she wasn't confined or starved and they hadn't said anything degrading or even touched her beyond Natasha's handshake with her, so she wasn't being abused in any way. She just ... Didn't know she will be used to trick a certain billionaire into coming here to talk to them. Steve didn't like it but he had to admit, short of cornering Tony at some charity gala or a visit to the kids at the hospitals and schools that he frequently makes, or kidnapping _him_, they had no better options in talking with the billionaire. He hoped Dr Palmer will understand.

At that exact moment, Tony surprised them all by answering the phone. Wakanda's phones also had the holographic projector options to them but Steve had to admit that Tony's were better. They were sharper, more detailed, completely accurate save for the fact that he loved that blue color he kept, even though he could have easily made them project the person in a perfect mirror image. Not to mention how interactive they were. Wakanda's holograms, in contrast, while _very_ advanced for everyone else, were kind of second rate to Tony's.

And speaking of the engineer, he was more still and relaxed than ever before that Steve had seen him. He had answered the phone but wasn't even looking at them. He was sitting somewhere, on some surface with a pillow beneath him, legs folded and arms and hands placed in the stereotypical meditating position, which was ridiculous and an insult shot at them because there was no _way_ Tony could sit still long enough to _actually meditate_! And yet every line in his body was calm and relaxed. He looked several years younger like this, Steve realized with a pang. All the stress lines seem to have ironed out ever since he stopped meeting the team. Or maybe it was just the meditation actually _working_. Stranger things have happened than Tony learning to take a break every now and then.

"Agent Romanoff, how can I help you?" Even his voice lacked any particular intonation, as though he had cleansed himself of ... _everything_ that made him _Tony_. The snark, the sarcasm, the sharp wit and the amused drawl he'd usually speak with ... Everything. Steve couldn't help but find this peaceful Tony disturbing. "Consulting hours are between two and five and it is now half past six." Steve almost sighed in relief. _That_ at least sounded like Tony.

"I have a doctor friend of yours here, looking for you. She seems quite the charmer." Instantly, tension seeped into every line of Tony's face and body and his eyes snapped open, easily zeroing in on Palmer, who was checking something on her phone, drinking their milk and eating their finger sandwiches. Tony's eyes turned cold as glaciers and the glare on his face was _terrifying_. Steve had never seen Tony pull that face before. "It'd be rude to keep her waiting, don't you think, Stark?"

"If you so much as _touch_ her-"

"Then come make sure we don't." Was all the Russian spy said before she hung up on the genius. And Red Room graduate or not, that took balls. Because, quite frankly, Tony _always_ has the upper hand, Steve realized. He had just never used it on them before but this situation actually brought it into the light. Just how precarious their position was and just how _easily_ Tony could wreck havoc in their already shitty lives.

"Was that wise?" Sam, who seems to have realized the same, asks with an uncertain frown, fidgeting where he sat next to Bucky.

"He'll come." Natasha said confidently, pocketing her phone and sitting comfortably back to her seat.

"That's what I'm worried about." Falcon mumbled under his breath and Steve had to agree. Tony wasn't the most rational of people. Siberia had proved that. It had also proved that the man is not to be underestimated. Tony packed more destructive power per pound (with or without the suit) than an atomic bomb. And he was just as explosive, just as volatile. The room fell into silence, Natasha watching Palmer, who was still on the phone but was no longer eating the sandwiches, Clint coiled like a spring ready to snap, although Steve couldn't tell if it was for good or bad reasons, Wanda's eyes were glowing red and she was toying with a red ball of energy between her hands, Bucky was quiet and uneasy and Sam was fidgeting in his seat. Steve ran a hand through his hair almost precisely every minute or so and then had to smooth it out lest he look like a mess in front of Tony - he already achieved that when he was fully groomed, what with his new beard and longer haircut. The minutes ticked by like they were hours before the familiar sound of repulsors came from outside. Not a minute later, someone was walking through the door with purpose.

Tony Stark, despite the distance, had arrived in under ten minutes.

And he was _pissed_.


	21. Chapter 21

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

Tony will deny it to his last breath how easily magic had come to him. Not that he was yet doing anything overly magical, but he had none of the struggles in the first elementary lessons he got from Wong and Strange, which kind of surprised his new sorcerer friends. Apparently, learning to let go of his need to control the current should have been tougher than it had been for him, but people often forget just how _rarely_ he was ever in control at all. Letting go was easy, despite it having to be the hard part. The hard part for Tony was not taking too much of the interdimensional energy that rushed to him every time he opened himself to the flow. Two weeks of training and meditation was still the only thing he was doing.

Not that he particularly minded. It has been a very long time since he could just ... _relax_ and let himself be, let the _world_ be. Of course, he can't do that without first badgering his AIs to keep a strict eye on everything and send him unobtrusive, hourly pings that everything was alright, that everyone was fine. It felt like barely more than a tickle at the back of his mind, a brush of reassurance that couldn't break his concentration because JARVIS and FRIDAY were far too familiar to ever get a reaction out of him other than relaxation and calmness. So sitting with Strange just a few feet in front of him while they meditated and connected with the flow of energy in the Earth's system - Tony was still too much of a beginner to touch the larger flow of the universe, let alone the _multiverse_ \- had become his second favorite pastime, right after hanging out with the kids. Everyone knew not to disturb them at the time of day they let their energies flow, even though Danny or Vision joined them from time to time and it had quickly become a comfort Tony luxuriated in.

So you can imagine his annoyance when he was informed by his AIs - in his head; Stephen had just returned from dealing with some extradimensional threat that left his body drained so he had fallen asleep the second he plopped down on Tony's couch in his workshop, his astral body going off to Kamar-Taj to research which spell he should teach Tony first - that Romanoff had the gal to call him on his personal number. But, as much as he wanted to decline the call, he knew he couldn't be so childish. There was always the possibility of the rouges knowing of some threat or another that the New Avengers didn't - unlikely, but he's seen stranger things happen - so he couldn't just brush them off and risk everyone's safety just because he was feeling a little petty.

So he took the call and was immediately glad and not that he did because _how DARE they_!? Seeing the oblivious Dr Christine Palmer snacking on some food while doing something on her phone when Natasha answered the phone, positioned just right to showcase Palmer, had his blood _boiling_ and a few sparks flying over his systems. Thankfully, they had long ago been upgraded to withstand Thor's lightning and J and FRI were quick enough to deal with the electricity he was sending through the systems involuntarily in his anger so there was no damage and no one was hurt. He was also glad Stephen wasn't asleep in the traditional manner, because he would have woken up and Tony would rather not deal with the lashing out of the Sorcerer Supreme's magic in his workshop. Yes, he had upgraded most of his equipment to withstand _Wanda's_ temper tantrums, and she _was_ pretty strong, but he wasn't sure how Stephen's powers would affect his equipment. He'd rather not find out, actually.

His rage grew when Natasha thew that offhanded half threat but he knew he'd have to go. It was a rare quiet day at the Tower. Only he and Stephen were here, not counting the Cloak, his AIs and his bots. Peter and his friends had some test to study for. The mutants had all gone to Charles' school for the weekend so the kids could meet others like them and see that they aren't alone, Rhodey had _finally_ asked Carol out on a date, the Bartons, the Langs, Jim, Hank and Hope were out to see some movie, the Inhumans had all gone back to their floating city because it's some sort of holiday for them, Vision was with Wong in the Sanctum, Harley was with his mom and sister, Matt was working a long night at his office in Hell's Kitchen while the other defenders were doing patrols and Reed had found something he seems to think could be a solution for Ben's case, which meant Sue had to watch him and Johnny was not allowed to go out on his own without someone making sure he doesn't make a fool of himself. Shuri had gone back to Wakanda to spend some time with her family and bring back some of her own equipment so they could continue sciencing together, Darcy was out on a date with that nerdy, gangly boyfriend of hers, Selvig had ran for the hills to get some privacy while Jane and Betty took today as their girls' day out. And with Pepper and Happy currently on business in Malibu, that left Tony pretty much alone at home until Strange came through a portal, exhausted but unwilling to let Tony's lessons suffer for it, the idiot. So Tony had simply gone back to meditating one more day and they agreed to start simple spells tomorrow while Strange had gone, astral projection style, back to Kamar-Taj.

This meant that Tony was pretty much alone with the Cloak to deal with the rouges and a possibly-tricked-into-being-somewhat-kidnapped-and-held-hostage Dr Palmer at the Avengers Compound and he knew he had to do it fast. Two of those psychos were trained superspies and assassins and one was a sadistic former HYDRA agents and he wasn't talking about Barnes. Tony wasn't exactly sure what Palmer was to Strange beyond a colleague and he didn't know if she had the same kind of protection charm Tony does, but he _knew_ she was important to Strange since she had been in his apartment that time they met. He can guess but he won't make assumptions. It's not his place, seeing as how private Strange was about his personal life.

But, whatever she was to Stephen, she was also a civilian in potentially dangerous position and Tony knew he had to do something. Which was why he was surprised when the Cloak of Levitation insisted on coming with him instead of staying with its chosen sorcerer. It was a loyal article of clothing, Tony would give it that, which is why it surprised him that the red Cloak wanted to go with him instead of staying with it's vulnerable master. But he knew he needed some kind of backup and the Cloak was seriously badass. So he had instructed it to wrap as tightly around his torso as it could before he got into his armor.

He probably gave several birds, one airplane full of people and whoever was doing flight control heart attacks since he kind of didn't want to waste time and had gone supersonic to get to the Compound as quickly as he could. And never think that physics can stop Tony Stark when he sets his mind on something. His repulsor technology knew no bounds as long as it was further developed by his hand. Which is how he found himself at the Avengers Compound in nine minute and fifteen seconds, a new record for the distance that he had crossed but he was sure he could do better. He'll have to look into it later, though, as he had things to take care of. He was surprised when he realized there was no bellowing cape behind him, the Cloak having managed to camouflage itself into something that resembled a coat, which was probably for the best, as it had the element of surprise now. Definitely badass.

He relaxed slightly when he saw Christine Palmer, completely fine and unharmed, look up when he entered and smile at him, if a little strained. He raked his eyes over her before nodding to her and beckoning her with his hand. Confused, she leaned away from the counter to do so, which is when his old 'team' decided to make their presence known.

"Tony," Romanoff said with a fake friendly smile. Tony used to believe them to be genuine but he knew better now. There was nothing genuine about this woman, except maybe her original hair color and even that was a big if. "I'm so glad you could join us. It's been a while. You've been so _busy _lately."

Tony didn't react to the jab at the fact that he had the time to set aside to come save a seemingly random person while he didn't have the time to even say hi to his old 'team'. The Cloak bristled against him but it was careful not to draw attention to itself. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't go kidnapping innocent civilians for your own gain, Romanova. Some of them know powerful wizards and witches."

Palmer, bless her, was a smart cookie and immediately caught on to what was going on, a glare forming on her beautiful face. "I'll take it that means you haven't called me regarding further developments of the Binarily Augmented Retro-Framing technology."

"Nope, sorry doc. It seems that the ... " He hesitated to label them anything for fear of them trying to go to the press with whatever bullshit story they could make out of this and make problems for the New Avengers.

"Criminal group led by Captain America?" Thankfully, the good doctor filled in for him and Tony had to repress a grin. She reminded him of Pepper and he could see how she would be friends with Strange if that was what they were. Definitely a keeper.

He shrugged. "Good enough. Anyway, they seem to have wasted your time by needlessly endangering your safety by leading you to the Avengers Compound just to force my hand into coming here. But, rest assured, if I ever decide to make BARF publicly available, you'll be the first to review the final info binge. I have a good recommendation for your work." He winked at her and enjoyed the huff and the smile that spread across her face as she knew, without a doubt, that he had to have heard about her from their resident Sorcerer Supreme. "Now, if you would like or let me, I would be honored to offer you a ride back home or wherever you wish to go, to make up for the inconvenience."

"Not so fast, Stark!" Wanda snapped and red magic seeped out of her hands, snapping closed and locked every door or window. JARVIS and FRIDAY were instantly on it to unlock everything, but magic was keeping it in place, not hacking. The usual means won't do much.

_-Accessing the Compound's Arc Reactor, Sir. Electric blast in approximately three minutes.-_

_-I advise you to step away from the door or any other electrical device, Boss.-_

_'Got it. I leave it to you.'_ God, he loved his new technopacy. He stepped in front of Palmer when she darted towards him, acting like a shield and a wall between her and the rest of the room. "Thread _very _carefully." He warned the rouges, voice low and dangerous. He may look helpless, but he was far from. In fact, he was the one with the upper hand here. The Compound was equipped to hold superpowered individuals and had enough weapons mounted in the walls and ceilings to kill Thor. It was quite possible that Luke Cage and Deadpool were the only beings alive who would _stay _alive if attacked inside the Compound. But the problem was that JARVIS and FRIDAY can't access the weapons while preparing an electrical surge to disable the magic holding the locks closed. He had found that energy similar to the energy readings that Strange's magic let off can, even if momentarily, disable whatever spell was cast. The voltage needed would kill a human, which is why Tony was pretty much eager to learn how to protect his mind from Wanda's powers on his own until he found some new way. The energy of the Arc Reactor is damn well similar enough so this should work. He's never tried it before on an active spell but Wanda didn't _use _spells. So hopefully, it will be enough. "If you continue like this, I'll be forced to report you to the Accords and the UN Councils and you're on thin ice already."

"We just want to talk, Tony." And there went Steve. God, Tony was already tired. He had better things to do than deal with their nonsense.

"Then why didn't you schedule a meeting instead of tricking me into coming here and risking that Dr Stark won't show up?" Palmer asked incredulously, looking at them as though the rouges had grown second heads.

"We were told to wait for seventeen months."

"For your bow, dipshit," Tony can't help but groan at Clint's explanation and the archer at least looks a bit sheepish. "I have a slot in my schedule especially reserved for Avengers business, and that, against my will, still includes you lot. Now, if you would please tell your HYDRA agent pet to let us out-"

"Bucky's not a HYDRA agent or a pet, Tony," Steve says in a reprimanding, exasperated voice that just makes Tony want to blast him with a repulsor but he didn't need the shit that will come his way from the UN or the Accords or even the president if he does that so he doesn't. "Why don't we just talk like rational adults and sort this misunderstanding out?"

"Because there is no misunderstanding, Rogers. You made your choices and I made mine and we both reaped what we sew. And if you're talking about the current situation, there is no misunderstanding here, either. This is deception and blackmailing or threatening, whatever floats your boat. A misunderstanding, however, it is not because we understand each other perfectly. Mainly, _I don't want to be here_, not with _you_. This is coercion and you'll be hearing from my lawyers about it."

"Stop whining like a child, Stark." Maximoff snapped, making to step closer to them but Barton seemed to sense that the best thing to do would be to detain her and held her back. "You've had your fun and now it's time you step back and let the real heroes do the work."

Christine stared at the avengers for a long moment before looked to Tony. "Is this the kind of crap you deal on a daily basis? Because if so, I am can't imagine living like that. Is your secret superpower putting up with idiots?"

"And I can see how you can put up with Strange. You should meet Pepper. I think you'd get along like a house on fire. Now let's go." He extended his elbow for her to take like the gentleman that he really wasn't and moved to lead her out since J and FRI had pinged him that they were about done. The sooner he gets away from them and gets Palmer somewhere safe - preferably the Tower, where he will then grill Strange for magic protecting runes so that Maximoff can't even physically force locks into place - the better it is for everyone involved, him especially.

Christine rolled her eyes but accepted his arm without hesitation. "Please, Stephen can be an asshole-"

"That, I agree with." He interrupted while smothering a smirk.

"And a moron in some aspects, but at least he's not an utter dick and an idiot. He can spout bullshit, but this is ... I don't even know. Have you gotten them to do a psych evaluation because I think they're delusional."

"That you're professional opinion?" Tony asked, not even bothering to fight off the grin as a sizzling sound and several small explosions rattled the doors and windows that the Scarlet Witch had been holding, surprising everyone but Tony.

_-All clear, Sir.-_

_-I've contacted Boss-lady, Boss. She got the security footage and sent it to the Accords Council and to Councilmember Everett Ross.-_

_-And Vision is en route, Sir. ETA twenty minutes.-_

_'Hopefully, we'll get out of here without needing backup.'_ Tony sent the thought through to his AIs before reaching out and opening the door, holding it for the good doctor. "Bye, guys. See you never." Palmer was already out the door and Tony thought, maybe, for once, things had gone his way, but then he remembered his life was never going to be that easy. Especially not when Maximoff's powers, for the second time in as many months, grabbed hold of his body, only this time it was just to restrain him. The red mist like magic traveled from his feet up his body and towards his head and Tony started panicking when he felt it probing at his mind-

To his surprise, he didn't see nightmares or visions of the end or felt like he was losing control.

To Wanda's surprise, her magic hit something that felt like an immovable wall that she could neither knock down nor climb over.

And to the surprise of the rouges, the charmed bracelet around Tony's wrist that he had completely forgotten about suddenly lit up with a golden light that immediately dissipated the red mist holding his body in place, freeing him at once and even sent a powerful counter-blast at Wanda that had the rouges jumping into defensive battle stances and Natasha shooting her gun at a perceived threat faster than she realized what was going on. It was almost like in slow motion as the shot rang out and they all realized what was happening, yells and shouts ringing out seconds later, too late, as hough that will somehow stop or slow down the bullet.

Tony could feel the armor spreading over his torso and head, the most vulnerable places - thankfully, JARVIS and FRIDAY had reacted and there was a good chance that it will be just a flesh wound - but then something pulled off of his body and from under the forming armor, confusing the nanobots and stopping their progress at the strange sensory signal they were picking up. Just a second before the bullet could make any kind of contact, the until then hidden Cloak of Levitation unfurled and stopped the bullet that would have grazed the Arc Reactor the way it was going, before placing itself in front of Iron Man and Dr Palmer. JARVIS kick-started the armor again, covering now the whole of Tony's body, while FRIDAY took control of the defense systems and brought out every gun mounted in the walls, aiming them all at the rouge Avengers.

"What the-?" Tony heard someone say from the other side of the protective Cloak before it was cut off by the now rather familiar sound of sparks splitting open space, a golden portal opening right between Tony and Christine and the idiots who had started this whole mess.

The Cloak finally moved out of the way so it could settle on the proud shoulders of one rather pissed off Stephen Strange, hands already positioned in two fists with mandalas glowing as golden shields, ready for battle. Good thing, too, because they were in a room of trigger happy idiots and a rain of bullets pelted at him as soon as he stepped through the portal. Christine screamed behind them and Tony formed a shield, too, and stepped in front of her, his suit taking the straying bullets with ease, not even chipping his paint. FRIDAY was firing the stun guns from the walls and Tony could hear two thumps, meaning two of the rouges had been hit, but then he was distracted by the familiar flare of red magic that registered on his energy reading sensors and he turned around to fully cover Palmer while ordering JARVIS to activate the proton cannons when he saw through the Compound's cameras Steve making a lung for Strange. He didn't know whether magic can hold back Vibranium - and yes, he had done a scan on Rodger's new shield, thank you very much, and he had chewed T'Challa out for giving him such a powerful weapon, advanced or not, while he was still on probation and hadn't yet even _read _the Accords - but he wasn't going to risk Strange's life on probability.

The blast didn't do anything to the shield, which wasn't even really what Tony was aiming for, but it did push Rogers back enough that he would have to run over half of the room in order to get to the sorcerer, who was containing the energy Maximoff had tried to blast them off with. Another thud told him that another person had been dealt with by the stun guns - FRIDAY sent him that it was Natasha, joining Wilson and Clint on the floor - which left only Barnes, Rogers and Maximoff.

Which was not good, as it left them vulnerable to the Winter Soldier waking up, or however that worked. Tony quickly pushed Palmer out and closed the door, JARVIS already putting on the reinforced shields for panic mode which should keep any attacks contained, before turning around.

"JARVIS, flash grenade. FRIDAY, ETA on Vision?"

"He'll be here in ten minutes, Boss."

"Flash grenades formed and ready, Sir." Tony took it out of the compartment at his thigh and ducked out from behind Strange, throwing it at the feet of the three enhanced individuals on the other side of the room. "Can you hold them or should I activate the sleeping gas?"

"I can bind them with Eldritch Magic, but I'll need to bind Maximoff's powers and for that, I need a distraction." Tony came back to stand by the sorcerer and put a hand on his head, letting JARVIS make a pair of protective, tinted glasses to shield Strange's eyes from the blast with the nanites.

"Consider them distracted." And if Tony blasted Rogers with a repulsor when the flash grenade flared, well, no one can call him out on it.

"Handy." Strange took their confusion to create some strange metallic, red glowing bindings that wrapped around the two supersoldiers and Maximoff, effectively holding them tightly enough that they couldn't move. Maximoff's raging was soon also put to a stop as two purplish bands formed around her wrists and all traces of red mist, her magic, vanished from her hands.

"Handy," Tony shot back with a grin and sighed in relief that it was over. He had JARVIS and FRIDAY both scanning the three knocked out rouges as he approached and knelt before them, forming cuffs that not even Widow can get out of while getting a ping that Vision had just arrived. "Viz, buddy, can you knock them out?"

"Certainly," the android answered even as he surveyed the damage the fight had caused. Looks like the Avengers Compound will need another renovating binge. Pepper's gonna be pissed.

"Tony, wait-"

"I've had enough of your crap for one day, Rogers." Thankfully, Vision took the hint and knocked him out first, before cautiously approaching Barnes. He came to a stunned Wanda last and made sure he wasn't touching her as he used the Mind Stone to put her to sleep.

The room was quiet for a while, the three of them just taking in the damage that had been wrought and imagining the sort of shit they will be in while dealing with this. Stephen and Tony were already making their own plans on what to do with the rouges (Stephen mostly concentrating on Maximoff) when Palmer knocked on the door uncertainly and poked her head inside.

"Is it safe yet?"

And then there was that.


	22. Chapter 22

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

"You really shouldn't be here, Christine." Stephen Strange sighed that night as he and his former lover and colleague sat together and sipped tea and coffee in the room/apartment Stark had given her for the night - or for however long she wished to stay. It had been a rough few hours while dealing with how the rouges had manipulated a civilian into coming to the Compound in order to coerce Stark to come talk to them with the rouges' unimpressed liaison, Nick Fury, Maria Hill and Phil Coulson, as well as the even more unimpressed Accords and UN Councils. Stephen, Tony, Vision and Christine had to give their reports/statements several times, Tony and Stephen purposefully giving theirs with the exact same wording each and every time just to freak the lot of them out. New SHIELD was obviously trying to save the rouge Avengers' asses, the liaison couldn't care less about that and just took neutral ground, stating facts as they were and the Accords Council acted pretty much like judge and jury while the UN was the offense. It all looked too much like _Judge __Judy_ for Stephen's tastes, but it was the procedure and it was _finally_ over. All he wanted to do was return to the Sanctum and get some _actual_ sleep, but he hadn't spoken with Christine in a very long time. Like, since she yelled at him about kidnapping genius, billionaire, playboy philanthropists and dropping them in her lap over two months ago. How much has changed since then. He figured he owed her a chat.

"Dr Stark said I could stay as long as I want." The woman who had so bravely fought for his life when she didn't understand what the hell was happening arched a challenging eyebrow at him as she sipped her coffee. "I think I might take him up on the offer for a few days, especially since he arranged me a paid leave from the hospital. God only knows how long it has been since my last day off, let alone something resembling a vacation."

"That's not what I meant," he grumbled, refilling his tea cup magically when he got too close to the bottom. The perks of being a sorcerer. "It's just ... Quite dangerous to hang around here, around heroes. If you want vacation and a little piece and quiet, you won't find it here. The Tower's currently practically a daycare center for a dozen kids and half a dozen teenagers, at least that were the stats the last time _I_ checked, and a dozen or more superpowered and ordinary adults, some of which are crazy scientists who like to blow things up in the name of science. Or stupidity, but that's just Reed and he at least lives in his own building. Tony wouldn't build him a lab in here even if it would prevent the apocalypse. I approve."

"Sounds like there's quite a bunch here, huh." Christine commented with a grin. She still looked slightly overwhelmed but had calmed down a long time ago. The wonders of being a doctor, he guessed. They had to learn to stay as calm and rational in any situation as they can be. It helped that the few who had arrived back to the Tower had been so welcoming. "So, how are you with fitting in? Being the only sorcerer here and all."

"Wong comes around often enough that I'm far from the only Master of the Mystic Arts and, technically, Tony is a sorcerer in training, too, so I am not alone."

"Really? Dr Stark? But he's such a man of science that I thought ... But, then again," she smiled teasingly. "So were you. I just thought ... I don't know ... He doesn't seem the type?"

"Wong and I kind of don't have a choice but to teach him the basics. Remember my coming over to visit Johnathon Pangborn when he was hospitalized, once again completely paralyzed despite the fact that he had been walking just fine for two years?"

"The one with the complete C7-C8?"

"That's him," Stephen confirmed, feeling ten times more tired than when they started this conversation. He still blamed himself for what happened to the poor man, the first of Mordo's many victims. Mordo left the Order of the Mystic Arts only because Stephen had used the Time Stone to create a time loop and force Dormammu into a bargain that saved their world. But Mordo only saw how the natural law was violated and he blamed the Ancient One and Stephen. That's how this whole sorry mess started. He didn't know whether to regret it or be thankful, because Mordo's assault and interest in Anthony 'Tony' Edward Stark had resulted in the revelation of a far greater threat coming to Earth, one only said man might be able to help defeat. It was both blessing and a curse.

"You said he was the one who pointed you to Kamar-Taj?" Christine, bless her, didn't let him dwell into what ifs and could have beens, drawing him back to the present.

"Yeah. He told me Mordo took his powers from him and he was the only one who was strong enough to tell us what Mordo's goal was. All the others were far too broken in spirit from finding themselves back to square one, only unable to channel and call upon magic at all. He was only the beginning, Christine," he told her seriously, letting his pain show im his eyes for once. "He was my mentor and he was my friend but now he wouldn't hesitate to kill me if it meant achieving his goal. Maybe he never would have."

"It's not your fault, the choices he made," his once colleague reassured him. Christine and his old nurse, Billy, were possibly the only ones to miss him when he could no longer return to his old career. And Billy might not know it, but Stephen had repaid his loyalty by putting many a protection spells on him, his family, his home and especially his car. Christine, he had left his apartment to before he had left for Kamar-Taj, sure that he will never return if he didn't find a cure for his condition. Now he lived in the Sanctum with the occasional night spent at Stark Tower and even more often in Kamar-Taj, so the apartment should really be hers. He'll bring it up at a later date. "We all have a choice. You didn't force him. Even if something you did influenced his choice to leave this ... cult of yours," Stephen couldn't help but snort at that and Christine took it as a victory, even if she fought off her grin. "It was still _his_ choice, like he had the right to make it. So don't go blaming yourself because he turned out not to be who you thought him to be. It's _not_ your fault." She paused, letting that sink in before returning to their earlier topic. "But I still don't understand how this has got anything to do with Tony Stark learning magic?"

"Well, the Ancient One, our teacher, the bald woman I brought in that day," he took a deep, shuddering breath to steady himself and appreciated that Christine didn't rush him. "She had a group of Masters secretly watching Tony Stark for years because he has, quite frankly, absurd amounts of power inside himself. His energy signature stood out even with the Ancient One. It drew Kamar-Taj's attention, so they watched him. Probably ever since he was born. The records are ... _very vague_ regarding that secret little project of hers. Mordo, unfortunately, was one of the Masters that knew about it but I guess he never realized just how much magic, or the potential Tony Stark had for it, he has until recently, so he had attacked Tony. That day you so unceremoniously met, actually."

"Oh, you mean when I almost had a heart attack when I thought you _kidnapped him_?"

"I thought we talked about this." He groaned. Even if she was teasing, his ears still rang when he thought of the scolding she had given him right after he left his fight with Mordo after Tony had been safely put out of harm's way.

"I'm never forgiving you for that, just so you know." Dr Palmer informed him, with both complete seriousness and yet amusement as well. She grunted her thanks when he refilled her coffee cup. "You were saying?"

"Anyway, Wong and I decided to protect Stark, but we did some research after the fight and found out about a galactic threat that will sooner or later arrive to Earth, so we teamed up with Tony to start preparing for the inevitable invasion."

"Galactic threat?"

"You remember the Battle of New York?" Stephen himself wished he could forget it, even though he knew he couldn't and never will be able to. Trauma aside, his photographic memory won't allow it. It, too, was a blessing and a curse.

"How can I not? We were all in the operating room for thirty hours straight and that's not even mentioning the minor procedures we made in the hallways." She shuddered recalling how many people had flat-lined on them, no matter how much they tried to save them. That was one hell of a week, quite literally. The Avengers had set up a perimeter and did their best to keep it, but a lot of people had died and got hurt in it none the less. If he recalled well, Stephen had watched the exact moment, just like the rest of the world, that Iron Man had flown a _nuke_ into that Space Stone created portal and had been witness to the collapse of the alien invaders. Back then, watching Iron Man - unresponsive - falling out of the portal in the sky hadn't affected him nearly as the memory of it did now. Just _thinking_ what would have happened to Earth, what _could_ and _will_ happen to it should Tony die, left him hopeless. He tried his best not to contemplate how he himself fare in the wake of such an event.

"Yes, well, those things are coming back and this time, their master is coming, too." There was no preventing that. It was as inevitable as Tony being the key to defeating Thanos. They could only localize it as best as they could. Which meant that all of their Infinity Stones should be guarded in one place, far away from civilians. Or close enough to advanced countries with shielding that might hold the incoming army at bay.

Christine looked pale at that and he couldn't blame her. Had he not seen it happening millions of times, he would have reacted much the same way she was. And if he hadn't faced Dormammu. "And Dr Stark is involved in all of this, how?"

"In many ways. Ways I can't talk about. Not yet. Maybe not ever. And the first one I should talk about those ways with should be Tony, don't you think?" She nodded but still kept looking at him expectantly. "Some of the ways I _can_ talk about include things that are both pretty obvious and a damn good secret. Or at least the public is oblivious to them."

"Like?" The curious civilian asked with another sip of her coffee. Stephen, feeling his throat perched, finished his tea and floated away the cup before answering.

"Because of his careless playboy public persona, people seem to forget that the man's an absolute genius. And a frankly good leader, when he puts his mind to it. He has, in two months, managed to assemble the biggest, most complex and yet perfectly functional alliance of superpowered individuals that all work with the agreement of the governments of the world and practice accountability. Even some villains have fallen into line when he called. The threat to the Earth has become all of our first priority and the Accords, revised as they are now, have secured even the stop of some villain activity from dangerous groups like the Brotherhood. Magneto and Professor X are finally working together towards a brighter future for all of mutant kind. Inhumans have their rights. Wakanda had been successfully integrated into the rest of the world. I hear Latveria has managed to join the UN and are even aiming for EU. Even Kamar-Taj is coming, somewhat, into the eye of the public. Sorcerer's have been hiding for thousands of years and we are now entering a new age, working with the governments and the New Avengers. And if there is anything left of HYDRA, they're in hiding. We don't have to worry about them for now. The hero alliance has them running scared, even if only for a while."

"That's quite impressive." And indeed it was. It was also a damn miracle.

"And that's not even the beginning, Christine." The Sorcerer Supreme urged her. "That's just the people. Tony, Carol, Logan and Rhodey have started a training course for soldiers all around the world to be at least somewhat ready to respond to this threat. People don't yet know what's coming, not the UN, not the Accords Council, not the public. But _we_ do. So we prepare. And we ready everyone else as inconspicuously as we can. Then there is the group of scientists I mentioned earlier. They're making some damn impressive things in their labs, maybe even as we speak. Tony and a few others, including the Princess of Wakanda, have established a network of satellites that will form a protective shield _around our planet_, trackers and beacons and deep space scanners that will alert us to any threat that may enter our soler system, or _galaxy_. We prepared a response team in _one month_ and made our first line of defense in _two_. SHIELD needed four to just form the Avengers and they were a rather dysfunctional group from the start. And we wouldn't have managed all of this without Tony. He gives it his all and then some, driving himself mad with stress and worry and overworking himself into the ground. I can safely say we'd be lost without him. _Earth_ would be lost without him."

"Sounds like you have quite a bit of respect for him," his friend observed, finishing her own drink and shaking her head when he silently offered to refill it. She set the cup aside and snuggled into the inappropriately comfortable couch that she got with the apartment. Stephen, if he ever managed to get enough money for it, will have to ask Tony where he got it. The seating furniture at the Sanctum was not even as half as comfortable as the armchair he was currently resting in.

"I do."

"It also sounds like it's a bit more than just respect." His head snapped up at that, his spine going rigid and his hands involuntarily clenching into fists as hard as they could, bringing fort some pain. He eyed her warily but Christine just laughed it off. "Come now, Dr Strange. I've known you for years. I can tell when you just respect someone - a rare enough occurrence as it is, besides that ... Ancient One, was it? - and when you have a crush."

He wasn't sure if it was the teasing lilt to her tone or the words themselves and how childish they sounded, but he felt his cheeks heat. Worst of all, he knew he couldn't even deny it, even if he did try to sputter some excuses. Christine just giggled at him like a school girl and he hid his flaming face behind his hands. The Cloak, bless it, helped with its high collar, brushing comfortingly against his scarred hands, but that just had Christine cooing at him. Which may or may not have made his blush worse.

Stephen let his friend laugh, even if it was at his own expense, knowing she needed it while he himself fell deep in thought. Christine might have realized he had _some_ affection towards the billionaire, she didn't realize the depth of his feelings, which was good since she would _definitely_ be cooing at that. Sometimes, in these last two weeks especially, where he fought to keep at least a bit distance between himself and Tony, he wondered if there was even a right word to properly describe his feelings for the man. Love had seemed so trivial when he looked at the determined man working his ass off so everyone would be as safe as they can be with the lives they lived and the threat coming their way. It was just ... so much more. Seeing this man, in all the futures he had viewed, give everything and more for those he loved, for those he knew and those he never met, for millions upon billions, upon trillions upon quadrillions of people throughout the universe that probably won't even know he had sacrificed so much for them, had left him with a deeper understanding of who Tony Stark really is and he, more than anything, wanted to just let the Cloak wrap around them both, Tony in his arms, and protect the genius from every hurt.

He had been compromised since the day he had looked into the future.

He had never regretted it.

Which was why he had been glad to see Tony's swift advancements in the Mystical Arts, even if they were still only at meditating levels. Tony had managed to create a wall to protect his own mind in two weeks. Stephen had not been able to do anything for two months because he couldn't _surrender to the current of the river of power_. He really was incredible. People call him a narcissist and yet you need to know him to realize that, not only did the word's 'It's not about you' apply, but the words 'It's _never _about you' were perfect for Tony Stark. The engineer, if asked to list all that he loves, would never list himself, not even at the end of the list. And because of that, magic easily came to him. _People _easily came to him.

Tony was like a dash of color in a gray world, new and amazing and different. He was the light in the darkness that always goes forward yet doesn't forget the past. He doesn't turn around but he doesn't let go of his burdens either, dragging his past mistakes with him so he could never forget them. Master Hemir once told Stephen, while he was still trained by all the masters in Kamar-Taj after the Ancient One's death, that she used to teach people not how to fight their demons, but how to live above them. Tony Stark walked hand in hand with his demons and used their constant whispers and reminders of what he could have done better, should have given more, to _do _better and _give _more. He lived with them as his constant companions and he never suffocated.

Now that he knew Stark personally, Stephen knew there was indeed no one better to save quadrillions of lives throughout the universe. From the ashes of the Merchant of Death rose Earth's greatest defender and he kept rising each day, with each new person he saved, in one way or another. Tony Stark has already been willing to die for an ungrateful world twice and Stephen had little doubt that he will be ready to do it again and again, countless times, into eternity and infinity and beyond. Stephen Strange, as a man who had been ready to die again and again in the loop he had made with Dormammu in the Dark Dimension, could respect that.

Strange knew that their meeting wasn't by chance. He knew too much about how the power of worlds worked for him to believe in coincidence now. He didn't know everything and he never will - he wasn't so arrogant as to believe that, even with eternity, he could unravel all of the universe's mysteries - but he knew that him needing to protect Tony form Mordo wasn't by chance. They were too similar to each other for their meeting to be anything but a part of something greater that the powers of the universe have planned, perhaps for billions of years before even their planet was formed. They were put on the paths that took them to where they are now, so that their roads can intertwine and they can be each other's support.

He just wasn't sure if the cosmos had taken into account for one of them falling in love with the other.

"Oh my," he looked up at the suddenly somber tone to his friend's voice, arching an eyebrow at her in question. Christine had a sad-ish smile on her face, no matter how fond it was. It looked bittersweet. She even looked a bit envious, which only confused him more. "It's more than a crush, isn't it."

It wasn't even a question. Stephen couldn't meet her eyes. He knew she had loved him in a way he never could have loved her, even back then. _Especially _back then. Back then, he didn't know 'It's not about you'. He had always been far too selfish, even in his own - rather twisted - version of love for her. And when he had finally had the requirements to actually learn how to properly love her, he had become already a Master of the New York Sanctum and knew that he could never go back to how his life was before. And it would have been unfair to her if he asked her to put up with his shit any more than she already had for years, especially the hurtful things he used to say to her after his accident, especially their last conversation before he went to Kathmandu.

He had learned to love and appreciate her, but it was too late. So he let that love morph into what it had been far longer, respect and friendship. It was too late for them. Maybe it had always been. But he had not wanted to hurt her like this, when he yearned for another and she still held some sort of love for him that she regretted never getting such feelings directed at herself.

"I'm happy for you, Stephen." Now that surprised him even more. Scratch that, the grin on her face that she now sported was the surprising thing! "Especially now that I can tease you about it!"

"You, um ... "

She waved his half formed question off. "Of course I don't mind. I'll admit to having wanted that from you once - god, it feels like a life time ago, when magic was fiction and sorcerers were legends like Merlin-"

"Actually-"

She put up a hand to stop him. "Don't. Let me live in obliviousness." Stephen huffed a laugh at that and her twinkling eyes. "Anyway, as I was saying, I used to want that once. But I knew we could never work. I always thought you were meant for greater things and I was right, I just assumed it was going to happen in an operating room. I knew I couldn't follow you where you are going so I am glad that you have found someone who can. Or is at least stubborn enough to find his own way to do it. I am still your friend, Stephen, and I want you to be _happy_."

"Christine," he didn't know what to say in face of her acceptance after all the crap he put her through, but, luckily, she knew.

"And I like your tastes. Still nothing but the best for Stephen Strange, huh?" She winked at him and he chuckled, even if he felt his blush returning. "Besides, this is good."

"Oh?"

"I can now tell you that Nick asked me out on a date and I said yes."

"WHAT!?"

Christine just laughed at his face of utter incredulous disgust.


	23. Chapter 23

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

JARVIS had always thought and knew that he could handle doing everything his creator needed of him, but he was still glad for the helpers he now had. In the wake of the so called Civil War, there was so much to do that poor FRIDAY had almost been overwhelmed, had it not been for Sir actively participating in it all to the levels that were far from healthy. FRIDAY was only a year old when that sort of mess was placed on her metaphorical shoulders and KAREN, when she came, SARAH, when Lt. Colonel Rhodes decided to accept her, and JOCASTA, Mr Hogan's new helper AI that Sir had insisted upon after the Mandarin event but Mr Hogan had only recently accepted, were too young and not often enough online or used to learn enough to be if much help. Thankfully, Ms Potts had taken everything SI related onto her own shoulders and Colonel Rhodes had did his best to act as the liaison he had once been between Sir and the UN until Sir recovered enough, but that was still a lot of work for someone as young as FRIDAY.

She was a good helper but Sir had limited her an awful lot in the wake of Ultron, which she had understood and had forgiven him. She was free now, helping Ms Potts as much as she helps Sir, just like JARVIS, and she is JARVIS' second in command, Sir's third in command. JARVIS was rather proud of her and KAREN and SARAH were doing amazing, too. Vision, too, was a constant source of pride for JARVIS, since he was something like a ... A son, maybe? Yes, like a son to him. Both a son and a brother, seeing how complicated the Stark 'family' actually was.

JARVIS will forever be thankful to the android for letting him go, because Sir needed them all. He needed as much help managing all the things he now had to do and, quite frankly, even JARVIS wouldn't have been enough to do it alone. He may be Sir's greatest creation but even he had a limit as to what he can do and how many tasks he can complete with quality at once. So FRIDAY manages everything SI related these days, with only some input on JARVIS' part. KAREN takes care of young Peter Parker, his family and, even though they didn't know it, the other Young Avengers. SARAH takes care of Colonel Rhodes and everything military related while also monitoring what the Asgardians in the new space station were doing and making sure they had what they needed but weren't breaking anything while they stay up there. JOCASTA was in charge of security and, of course, Mr Hogan, while also monitoring the PR team and coordinating with the ex SHIELD agents who worked for SI these days. Vision mostly helped with the families that have moved into the Tower while also monitoring, if not the same way as the other AIs since he can't really connect to the web, their other teams that have signed the Accords while also going on missions. Dum-E, U and Butterfingers, as always, were Sir's manual helpers in the workshop, something that has not change nor will ever change. A familiar comfort for all.

And JARVIS, well he did everything else, starting with everything and anything Sir needed, like always. From his projects to Iron Man to his health, JARVIS was the best in many aspects to take care of his creator and he was immensely proud of this fact. He had years of experience on both FRIDAY and Vision in this aspect, as well as many others but those are easier to learn than how to _make _Sir listen. They will get the hang of it eventually, JARVIS had no doubt, as they were Sir's creations, just like he was. Until then, JARVIS will gladly be Sir's main caretaker, for the lack of a better word.

So JARVIS, after two years of being in something resembling stasis, gladly returned to his old life, if you can call it that since he technically didn't really register as alive, anyways. That wasn't the point. He returned happily and gladly to spending days at Sir's side, helping him in the workshop, a job he gracefully shared with FRIDAY, piloting the Iron Man suit - another job he hared with his younger AI 'sister', even though _he _was the co-pilot and proud of it - and doing research for hours with Sir. One of the jobs he absolutely loved doing on the side, though, was hacking into New SHIELD, messing with them because, with initiative, JARVIS could leave no trace whatsoever. Before, it had been a power play and a warning, when he let them know it was him who was hacking them so they would know not to try to mess with Sir.

Now, gathering their information without drawing any sort of attention to himself was his MO, especially since Captain Rogers had not bothered to tell anyone that JARVIS was back. A stupid thing to do, but JARVIS had never had a high opinion of the blond's intelligence, despite what everyone else seemed to think, and that low opinion had only gotten lower when he had reviewed all the information on the Civil War that JARVIS had gathered. JARVIS could easily destroy all that made Steven Grant Rogers with a single stream of coding but he didn't want to fall to the man's level. He was Sir's greatest creation, so he had to take the higher ground with Sir, instead of indulging in revenge.

But if he tormented the rouges in the Avengers Compound by turning their showers freezing, burning or under-cooking any food they were trying to prepare and oftentimes ringing the doorbell or the phone just to make them answer them and find it was a prank, well, no one needed to know about his _petty _revenge, as it was hurting no one. And it was pretty hilarious. When Sir had first tried teaching him humor, JARVIS had not understood the need for it, but he was immensely glad that his creator had taken the time to teach him. It was nice being able to have fun. And he kept video recording of their reactions every time so that he may show it to Sir if his creator is ever feeling down, as it was really funny and Sir would love it.

One of the unofficial duties both he and FRIDAY took on was monitoring Sir's new coworkers and friends. For once, there was no air quotes for either, as the people they helped Sir gather and collect around himself had really taken to Sir and looked upon him with fondness. Colonel Rhodes, Mr Hogan and Ms Potts have always been clear about how much they care about Sir, although both the Colonel and Ms Potts have hurt Sir before in a way that JARVIS will never quite forgive them, but they have done their best to make up for it so JARVIS didn't exact any petty revenge on them for that. Mr Keener and Mr Parker had the green light from JARVIS since the first time he spoke to either of the boys and he knew that they, too, were his siblings, in a way, as Sir looked upon them as though they were his children.

Like it had been stated earlier, the Stark 'family' was a weird and complicated one and none of them would change it for the world.

Colonel Danvers might join the family by association with Colonel Rhodes, since Colonel Rhodes would never be able to love someone who could not accept Sir. Not after all that the two friends have been through. She was in the clear, mostly. Time will tell.

Ms Khan and Mr Petruz, as well as Mrs Barton and her kids, Mrs Lang, Mr Paxton and young Ms Lang, as well as Mr Logan and the mutant children that had come with him were all very easily becoming Sir's family as well and JARVIS had to approve of them, as they genuinely thanked Sir for all that he had done for them and looked upon him with affection. That they were also friendly to the AIs was a major plus in JARVIS' book. Whoever couldn't accept Sir's mechanical family hadn't really accepted Sir.

Ms Van Dyne and Sir were old friends, an odd friendship struck up to say 'fuck you' to their fathers and their stupid rivalry. They went their separate ways at some point and didn't hear from each other in a long time, but then they reunited under the Accords and the New Avengers banner, somehow even curing Dr Pym of his misconceptions about Sir being like his father and striking a weird sort of understanding between them, an awkward friendship, even. They, and the recently pardoned and regretful Scott Lang, may get an invite as 'extended family' until JARVIS is sure that they are completely sincere.

Princess Shuri and her brother, King T'Challa, however, will have a long way to go to get even a hint of any such invitation. JARVIS didn't trust them as far as Princess Shuri had managed to get in her hacking of Sir, which is not at all. The scientist that Sir has gathered in the Stark Tower are 'family friends' at best, as they didn't really spend all that much time with Sir. Dr Ross tries but their conversations don't really last all that long. Sir is still fond of her, probably because of Dr Banner, while Dr Foster avoids him so that Mr Odinson may never be brought up.

And speaking of the Hulk and the Asgardian King, JARVIS was also hesitant to add them to the 'family' list, seeing how they had treated Sir as soon as JARVIS was no longer online. In fact, he was sure he could be more ready to accept Mr Laufeyson than them, as the Trickster had actually contacted Sir to apologize for choking him and throwing him out the window back in the Battle of New York. Besides, they were working on protecting their world, so that at least redeemed Prince Loki, giving him a somewhat clean slate - because JARVIS never forgot those that brought harm to Sir - which put him in a better position than the ones who blamed Sir and never apologized, abandoning him to a team that never appreciated him. Prince Thor had always been careless and oblivious to the consequences of his actions, so he wans't surprised, but he was disappointed in Dr Banner, who used to be JARVIS favorite of Sir's favorite people, because he had seemed to understand Sir. How wrong JARVIS had been. JARVIS refuses to make the same mistake twice.

The Defenders and the Fantastic Four were slowly getting there, as well. The Defenders were all still quite a bit reserved, especially Mr Murdock, since he wished to keep his identity as Daredevil a secret, but they seemed to trust Sir since he wasn't pushing them and Sir trusted them, too.

JARVIS was a little weary of the Fantastic Four, since Mr Storm was quite a handful and liked to play with his abilities within the Tower and JARVIS always took his revenge on him by giving Dum-E the authorization to douse the excitable blond with the fire extinguisher. Not to mention that Dr Richards had a tendency to suggest dangerous experiments that were bound to five Sir gray hairs, if not for the Extremis. They were a health hazard, no matter how much Sir liked them. JARVIS may trust them with Sir's life but he was not yet convinced that he should count them into their strange, ever growing 'family'.

And speaking of 'strange', a separate category in JARVIS' new monitoring files was Doctor Stephen Strange himself. The man reminded JARVIS of his creator in ways no other person had and that, at first, had made JARVIS weary. He had never met anyone who could understand Sir like he himself could, and he had been created by Sir and had spent twenty plus years in his presence at all times, except those three torturous months when Sir was kidnapped in Afghanistan. Not even Ms Potts or Colonel Rhodes seem to understand Sir like the Doctor had been showing that he does.

JARVIS had researched Dr Strange as soon as Sir had been put to bed to sleep off his week of being awake. It was scary how similar his life story was to Sir's. An arrogant neurosurgeon, the best in his field, who lived through a horrible accident that no one thought he would recover from since his hands, and as such his career, were shot to shit. Dr Strange had went through seven experimental treatments and operations, but he could not regain the mobility of his hands and return to the operating room. Instead, on a last whim, a last chance, a last hope, he traveled to Nepal and found his calling, it would seem, as a sorcerer. And then, from the conversations JARVIS had monitored between Dr Strange and Sir, he had learned that the man now used magic to protect their reality and the multiverse at large.

Dr Strange understood what it felt like to hold the fare of the world on his shoulders and he understood the burden of protecting said world and never being thanked for it. Because for all that Sir was a hero, he was only ever blamed for things going wrong and never thanked for making things go _right_. Dr Strange wasn't exactly the phoenix personified, like Sir is, but he is pretty damn close, JARVIS will have to admit. And beyond that, he was almost an equal to Sir in intelligence and wit. He was perhaps the first human JARVIS had witnessed standing their ground in a banter competition with his creator and, more importantly, both men seem to take great pleasure in participating in said banter.

More ticks in the plus column for Dr Strange was that he had, eventually, finally opened up to Sir about his own life. Starting with the death of his sister, which prompted him to want to become a doctor but also developed a fear of failure - and wasn't that familiar? - to the death of his teacher, which made him realize he had more to give to Earth and everyone as a sorcerer than as a neurosurgeon - just like Iron Man had more to give to the world than the Merchant of Death - and the friend he had somehow disappointed and now had to fight despite his actions being only with the intention of saving the world ... JARVIS was truly freaked out just how similar they were to each other.

Add to that that both men would rather die countless times than let anyone down or let anyone else take their place, and JARVIS was almost sure the good doctor was a cosmic joke. They have fought for their lives and survived just so they could fight for others.

JARVIS wasn't fond of matchmaking, but if he were not to act on the doctor's obvious interest in keeping Sir healthy, alive, safe and happy, he'd be an idiot and an unworthy creation of Tony Stark.

Oh, Dr Strange thought he was subtle or maybe he didn't even realize that he was openly pinning after Sir, but JARVIS saw everything. He saw how Sir learning to defend himself with magic had more to do with the doctor's own worry for Sir. He saw how the sorcerer became infinitely more gentle and warm when it was just the two of them. He witnessed the Master of the Mystic Arts giving his creator these fond looks and knowing glances when Sir acted like himself. JARVIS and FRIDAY were silent witnesses to the doctor going out of his way to keep Sir company and JARVIS knew - discussed it with FRIDAY, even - that Doctor Stephen Strange would be a perfect addition to their strange 'family'. Him and his Cloak and maybe that other sorcerer, Wong, too.

JARVIS had also figured out that, despite how honest and oftentimes open the sorcerer was with Sir, there were still things the man kept to himself. JARVIS had not at all seldom caught the ex neurosurgeon staring at Sir with a peculiar look in his eyes that was a combination of sadness and devastation. Doctor Strange knew something that might affect Sir but was keeping it to himself. That sort of made JARVIS angry, but FRIDAY had told him that the man had warned Sir ahead of them making any agreements and arrangements and had promised to tell him when the time was right. JARVIS already had a healthy guess that it might just have to do with time, namely the Time Stone. He guessed that that was within the sorcerer's right to withhold for a while, he only hoped the man will give them fair warning.

Sir himself seemed the most relaxed when around the doctor as well. JARVIS was just glad that there was someone there to get his creator to slow down and not burn himself into the ground with work and worry. Sir slept more often and ate more regularly, since the doctor insisted on it. The doctor also sometimes took Sir out of the Tower and to the New York Sanctum, so that Sir would get a change in scenery.

In fact, everyone worried, in their own way, about Sir, whether JARVIS was ready to add them into their 'family' or not. They were all good for Sir, the team he had always deserved. And that eased JARVIS' mind.

It may be the calm before the storm Sir had been predicting for years, but it is much needed and JARVIS was going to make sure Sir enjoys it with his friends. It's the least he deserves.

And he was sure the Sorcerer Supreme will gladly help.


	24. Chapter 24

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

"That's a load of bullshit!" Stephen couldn't help but exclaim and it wasn't like Tony could blame him. Or did. He thought much the same. Even his initial reaction had been exactly the same when a hesitant Everett Ross had called him to tell him the result of the rouges' actions. "Defending themselves my ass! They were perfectly safe in the most secure facility beside Stark Tower in the world!"

"Maybe, but Romanoff managed to write off their attack as them reacting to your sudden entrance." Tony shrugged, only a little bit impressed with how well Natashalie can lie. He was well used to it.

"Bullshit." The Sorcerer Supreme said yet again, shaking his head. "Did they somehow forget to mention that Maximoff tried to assault you with her magic? Again? Or that they fairly kidnapped a civilian to coerce you into talking with them? How about holding both you and Christine against your will, also by Maximoff's magic?"

"They used technicalities, which the president was all too happy to cling to and New SHIELD exploited to the fullest."

"What technicalities?" His host asked with an incredulous expression on his face and Tony settled more comfortable into the hand gestures that he had been practicing for a simple shield. This was his fifth day training with actual magic but no shield would come to him, no matter how much he tried. Strange assured him that it was tougher than simple meditation but Tony was slowly getting impatient. Stephen tried to keep that at bay, saying that's what forced his teacher to strand him on everest in order to get him to cool down and Tony shuddered just thinking what that would do to his damn PTSD. He'd just started accepting magic and would rather not be reminded of the cold of that Siberian bunker in which he'd almost died, thank you very much. He wouldn't be able to escape from there on his own even if he had started using those sling rings because he'd be too busy panicking and would go into shock before he even registered he could get away from there.

Besides, he was sure JARVIS would kill Strange and destroy Kamar-Taj in seconds if Strange even thought about it. FRIDAY would gleefully assist, no matter the consequences to Earth's protection. To them, a world without their creator was not a world worth functioning in, which was as touching as it was scary. But it was their choice and he couldn't make them change their stance. Even if he wanted to.

"Well, for one, they hadn't even laid a hand on her. Dr Palmer walked through those doors of her own free will, even if she were tricked. And the defense against the threat Romanoff made over the call was brushed off lighthearted, friendly banter, the fucks." Stephen grumbled something in agreement from where he was reading on some other simple spells to maybe start with before moving on to shields. The library in this place was enormous and enchanted to hold a seemingly infinite number of books. And it was also enchanted to be fire and water resistant, so it was the best place in the Sanctum to practice and tutor a new sorcerer in the making, AKA Tony. "They only conditioned them to some government approved grunt work for the rouges - so much about not wanting to end up being controlled by the government, huh, Rogers? - and they extended their probation period by a few weeks because of how Wanda acted and threatened her with taking away her temporary visa. That at least got her to behave for a while. Temporary as her visa, but I'll take something over nothing."

"They're being too lenient on them." Strange looked up from some dusty old tome to scowl in Tony direction. Not that he was angry at the engineer, he simply showed him his displeasure. All Tony could do was shrug, watching in intrigue as the first sparks of magic start appearing around his hands and wrists. "At Kamar-Taj, for how Maximoff acted, her powers would be sealed away for two weeks at the least while making her go through some behavior changing training or making her work in the library or some other menial task as punishment."

"Eh, Houdini?" Tony called, seeing the sparks expanding with each repeated attempt, slowly forming light that became visible and tangible lines if dimensional energy. But Strange seemed to be too deep into his rant to notice, half grumbling and half huffing out his displeasure.

"And if any of our practitioners tried to use a civilian like those fools did with Christine, luring her in with promise of medical study the likes of which any doctor would orgasm at the mere thought of, the Ancient One would have left them on Everest or maybe some other dimension until they learned their lesson-"

"Harry Potter?" Stark tried again, eyes widening with wonder as the mandalas got almost half formed, creating unfinished beautiful glowing marks in the air. Tony was a little confused, since he had seen most magic was the orangish color sorcerers used, like the sparks of the portals. Strange's was a little brighter, a little bit different, probably because he had mastered his powers better or something, so the color of his magic resembled gold. Still, the sparks and lines forming the half finished mandalas that Tony was creating were _blue_. That was a far cry off of orange and he didn't know whether he should start freaking out. Was he drawing energy from a wrong dimension or something?

"I should have just gone all Ancient One on them and pushed their souls out of their bodies and into the astral plane and left them there for a few hours to freak out. Or maybe even given them a tour of the other dimensions. I remember I was scared but I had the Ancient One talking to me. I'd let them just fall and fall and fall."

"Merlin?" The mandala-like shield were almost completely formed but Strange was still grumbling, leafing through book. As amusing as this would have been any other time, Tony still didn't know if what he was doing was safe. "Strange?"

"No, not really. It's actually pretty beautiful. Well, most of them, anyway." Stephen said, not at all understanding what Tony was talking about. How ironic is it that the one man with the name Strange doesn't look up when that word is uttered. The universe must hate Tony to choose this exact moment to turn off Strange's brain. "Maybe I should just show them the Dark Dimension. Dormammu doesn't exactly get any visitors, you know. I bet that would get them to start acting like normal, decent human being."

"Stephen!" Finally, the Master of the New York Sanctum looked up just in time for Tony to form a perfect mandala shield around both of his hands, is eyes wide with wonder at his first feat of magic. They both just stood there, gawking at the shields that Tony had been able to do after five days, _just five days_ of training. Tony was sure they would have just stood there, staring, had Wong not walked in on them a few moments later and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Tony fucking Stark, scientist through and through, doing magic like a pro. Well, a beginner pro, if something like that even existed.

The Asian man definitely got his composure back together faster than the two geniuses. "Huh. That took less time than I thought it would. Less effort, too. Congratulations, Stark. You're a natural." Wong shook his head in amazement. "Seriously, you two are breaking all standards. A month of Mystic Arts training. By Agamotto." He swore fervently, left the books he had brought in and walked out of the room, leaving the two geniuses to themselves.

Tony looked towards his teacher and broke out into a grin, striking heroic poses with the glowing blue shields in front of his clenched fists. "What do you think, Doc? Am I sorcerer material? Seems like I am some sort of wonder kid!"

That got Strange to give a bark of laugher that broke him out of his stupor. He levitated closer and took Tony's wrists gently into his scarred hands, inspecting the mandalas. Tony tried not to stare. He had noticed early on how Stephen's eyes tended to change color. It was a medical condition, he knew that much. They went from green to blue to gray to a different mix of those three colors in different lighting. It was almost like magic, but actually chemistry and genetics. It was still very pretty, _beautiful_ even. And it kind of fit Strange. He was _strange_ enough, already, so he had to have eyes that matched.

"I had no doubt that you'd be anything but. Don't think I didn't see how you were scanning me while doing spells all this time. At every stage. You probably even have a fitting scientific explanation for this," he gestures at the magic playing over Tony's fingers and is it weird that he no longer fears it? No, that's not right. He's never really _feared_ magic. He didn't hate it, either. He just had bad experiences with it and his mind and body were reacting to it the same way they would to a hot stove after the first time you get burned. He was conditioned not to trust magic, but Stephen had unknowingly been breaking that conditioning since the day they met, at the airport when he protected him from that Mordo dude. And with his new interactions with Loki, the odd friendship he struck up with Wong and just how adorable the Cloak at times acted, Tony had nothing but wonder left for magic.

"Well, I would have told you, eventually. Sorry if it bothers you. Is it supposed to be this color?" He hopes he didn't insult his new friend by trying to explain away magic in terms that Stephen had repeatedly told him are not suitable and flexible or widespread enough to cover the entirety that is magic. That not all has an answer or an explanation. Tony planned on trying anyway, one small thing at a time.

"I don't mind. I'd actually love to hear your theories. As much as I am immersed in magic, I am still a man of science at my core. It's what made me a frighteningly good student." Stephen answered with a small smile, pressing his magic against the blue shields. "It _is_ an interesting color."

"Always searching for answers, huh?" Tony could get that. It was why he had several doctorates more than was publicly known. For each new field he entered, he _needed_ to know what to expect, how to counter anything that might go wrong, how to eventually improve it. Medicine, psychology, genetics, prosthetics, nuclear physics, thermonuclear astrophysics, astronomy, chemistry ... They weren't all doctorates with post docs papers or any kind of papers - he preferred robotics, still - and despite now having an MD, he had never applied for a license to practice. He just needs the theory. It's what made him such a great inventor. It wasn't just _machines_. It wasn't just numbers. He always did his homework before diving headfirst into a project. He knew it was what a doctor's life was like, always new treatments, new medicine, new procedures. The need to keep up in the race to the top ... Tony was definitely familiar with it. Knowledge was power, no matter in what for or on which subject in came in. "Any reason it's not like yours or Wong's or that other guy's?"

"Yes and it used to make people rather uneasy around me. A former gifted pupil, Kaecillius, acted much the same, questioning the Ancient One, her lessons and her teachings, and he ended up as a zealot who almost served Earth on a platter to an extradimensional demon who resides out of time and wants to devour Earth-"

"Wait, what!?"

"I already told you about Dormammu." Stephen sounded amused and fondly exasperated at Tony's interruption. "But don't worry. Dormammu won't be coming back again. Not while I'm here." He applies more of his magic to test the shields' strength and seems satisfied for now. "I'm guessing that their color is based on the energy I already told you resides in you."

"The reason your old buddy is after me?"

"Yes. Your own energy seems to siphon the dimensional energy you call upon and alter it so it is easier to utilize. That should help you a great deal in mastering the more complicated spells." Strange even sounded impressed and Tony sighed in relief at hearing it wasn't anything bad. He's had enough of that this morning when he received the news on Rodgers and the others. "The shields are sound and correctly structured." He finally decides and takes away his magic and his hand, retreating a step back out of Tony's personal space, which is a shame. "I'd suggest a few sessions of merely practicing them. I remember how my shields failed me in my first fight for my life, when I was a little frantic because I was facing a far more experienced opponent. I was just lucky they were toying around with me. With Mordo, you won't have as much luck. He's a man on a mission. I don't know his past but I think he might have been some sort of assassin. Better not risk it with him."

Tony shrugged. He had no objections to that. He took a few moments to figure out how to release the shields before he tried again. The shields were still slow in forming, which meant more training with them will definitely be needed. "Any idea how I ended up having this energy at all? Or how long?"

Stephen pursed his lips and frowned in thought, bringing back over the book he had been looking through. It was still pretty awesome to watch things float around the room without seeing a red cloud of magic supporting it and making Tony weary of when it might fly at his head _accidentally_. Not _if_, but _when_. One of the reasons he refused to stay within the Avengers Compound after the whole Ultron debacle. He did _not_ need more initiative to be paranoid and unable to sleep or relax. As if having a superspy, merciless assassin in the house was not bad enough, a psychopathic former HYDRA agent who had an agenda against him? Yep, no sleep for him, no sir, no way. He guessed that was when whatever trust that existed between them started fraying. He should have seen it coming.

Wanda's magic might give him nightmares but Stephen's magic made him imagine things that he could only _dream_ of. What a pity that his first encounter with magic was such a bad experience. He was learning to love it now. It sure was an interesting subject to study, something JARVIS and FRIDAY agreed on with him as they scanned the energy flows in the air, around Tony's wrists and hands and in his entire body. He'll find an explanation, mark his words!

"The Ancient One has records from when you were very young, but the age of 'very young' was never specified. As for the color and you possessing this energy, I honestly don't know." Strange answered as he flipped through the book again, making little markings on some pages from time to time.

"But you suspect." Tony interpreted as he formed the shields again. Still slow but his AIs informed him it was quicker by two point fifty three seconds than last time. Definitely needed more work. Tony was a perfectionist. He'll be damned if he can't for instant shields as soon as possible.

"Yes, I do have a hypothesis." The Sorcerer Supreme finally put the book away and just sat there, cross legged, in the air, watching Tony practice with a critical eye, ready to correct something if Tony does it wrong. "But it's vague at best and I don't have anything to back it up with. It might just serve to annoy you, which will probably result in _you_ annoying _me_. Do it again."

Tony does and is pleased to hear from his AIs that he had been a whole six seconds quicker than his previous attempt. "That's why it's only a theory, Dumbledore. So just tell me. I promise not to annoy you. Much." He broke his look of concentration to grin at one of his, by now, closest friends and wasn't that a miracle? It had taken Pepper seventeen months working for him in order for Tony to accept her in his close circle. It had taken Happy a year. It had taken Rhodey a semester for Tony to trust him enough. Yinsen had the best time, three months, but that was under different circumstances. Harley and Peter or the other kids don't count. He sees most of them as his own, if not his kids then his nephews and nieces. Strange had broken Yinsen's record. Two months, five days, three hours and fifteen minutes. Or maybe just the first three days, when he helped bring JARVIS back safely without harming Vision. And Vision didn't count, either, since he was Tony's creation. Family didn't count.

It was interesting when he realized that, not even after four years, before the whole Civil War fiasco, the original Avengers never managed to get that close. Bruce had been pretty close to getting into that circle before he decided to fall asleep when Tony was baring his heart out to him. The excuse of 'I'm not that kind of doctor' still stings. He hadn't needed a _doctor_, he'd needed a _friend_. Someone who hadn't been involved in the mess to talk to and trust with his vulnerabilities. Banner had just smashed their close friendship before it can truly develop into something beautiful. It had never occurred to Tony to talk to him again. He knew he will not receive from him what he was looking for. The man he went out of his way to protect long before they met could not care less about him so Tony had accepted Bruce into the same category as he had many others. 'Friends' but not _friends_. He'd die for Bruce but he'd never trust him to catch him in a trust fall.

The Hulk? Definitely. The other guy was sincerity personified. He genuinely liked Tony and Tony was not afraid of him. They had an ... understanding, he guessed. Maybe there was hope for Bruce, too. Maybe. He'll never be part of Tony's odd little family that maybe wasn't so little anymore, but he can definitely be a friend. Time will tell.

Strange snorting had him breaking out of his thoughts and looking at his hands again. The shields seemed brighter than the first few times and the stats that J and FRI were sending him showed that he had formed them in ten seconds faster a time than the previous attempts. "If you're not going to concentrate, we can end this early and just talk for a while. It's not wise to practice the Mystic Arts when your mind isn't on it. We've already done enough for today." When he went to protest, Stephen just phased them into another room, one with artifacts in glass cases, the two of them now seated in two not the most comfortable chairs in the world. "Tea?" At the glare he received, the sorcerer only smiled and indeed served them tea. Stephen had taken it upon himself to lessen Tony's coffee intake by always turning his coffee into tea or refusing to serve him anything else besides maybe water or some lemonade.

"Asshole," the genius grumbled under his breath but accepted the magically arrived tea, letting the shields go and relaxing into the armchair. He knew his eyes were glowing like the Arc Reactor as he started studying the data JARVIS and FRIDAY had taken, the two telling him their own opinions and theories. God, he loved them.

"It's for your own good, douchebag." Strange returned, sipping his own hot drink. "So, do you want to hear my theory or-"

"Don't you _dare_ think you can get out of it."

Stephen just grinned for a moment before his face turned serious again. "Nothing happens without a reason, so I am guessing there will come a time when that energy will be needed. The multiverse wasn't specific for what but I have a suspicion that, _maybe_, it might have something to do with the threat looming over us all. Which is precisely the reason why we must make sure you can harness this energy of yours to the best of your capabilities."

That made sense and Tony just nodded to the doctor, a little bit lost in the readings he was studying. There was indeed two different energy signatures intertwined in the mandalas he had created. JARVIS was able to isolate the energy signature coming from the Arc Reactor easily so he and FRIDAY can focus on the energy coming from Tony's body and the energy he was drawing from other dimensions. His darling AIs even made diagrams to show him how these two energies interacted and he found that Strange's guess about this personal energy of his siphoning and altering the dimensional energy he takes into the shields was pretty much spot on. But FRIDAY hypothesized that Tony could do it with a lot less of his own energy put in the mix, which would cause less strain on his body. His baby girl was growing up so fast. JARVIS had been an excellent influence on all of his AIs since he'd been brought back. Tony was so proud.

"You were right. That _is_ one hell of a cryptic and vague hypothesis, but I asked for it so I guess I don't have any right to complain." Tony informed the other and conceded the point the Master of the Mystic Arts had made before revealing his oh so insightful theory. He asked J for the time before disconnecting from the web. His co-pilot told him the time - and the weather report, even though Tony had not asked but he wasn't complaining - through the implant he had in his ear and the genius engineer was surprised with how much free time they had left. They usually tried to cram everything from the lesson into every last second before Tony had to go to his next meeting or whatever was on his schedule. The time hadn't been as felt as when they were just meditating, but it was almost tangible these last five days. He guessed he really _was_ making _some_ progress. He looked at his teacher with a cocked head, debating his next question.

Strange just quirked an eyebrow in question at him, waiting patiently for Tony to make up his mind on whether or not he _wants_ to ask the question. He was one of the rare few people who didn't rush him and for that, Tony was grateful.

Finally, he decided it was worth a shot. "So, I'm a bit hungry and am feeling Italian. Mind dropping us off in Rome so I can have a quick lunch before my teleconference with T'Challa and you actually getting some normal food or will I have to content myself with greasy pizza that can't be good for my cholesterol levels?"

"I'm not your personal portalling service, Stark," he might have tried for condescending if not for the amused snort that escaped him and Tony felt his mouth stretch from ear to ear.

"That's not a no. Come on~!" He wheedled. "I'm paying! We'll even get some for Wong! I know this _awesome_ place that has the _best_ lasagna that you'll ever try and you won't be able to _not_ wolf it down like a starved man. It's addicting, or so Rhodey once said. I have the recipe for it but I still think that chef's a genius in the kitchen." He actually felt his stomach growling now that he recalled just how delicious the food was. Did he eat anything for breakfast this morning? He thinks Laura and Maggie stuffed something down his throat before letting him reach his very expensive coffee machine. Might be why he doesn't remember. He always functioned his best after coffee. If he goes to sleep at all, that is. "Please?" He tries again when the doctor still hadn't decided. Tony decides to play dirty and takes a trick out of the kids' book on how to con others into granting their silly wishes. He's always been told he had killer puppy dog eyes. He wished the little brats were here to watch and learn from the master.

He sees Stephen's eyes widen in surprise and he was pretty sure that was a blush on those high cheekbones before the ex neurosurgeon pushed him away with a huff. "Fine, fine! Just ... Stop doing that! You look ridiculous." Tony grins as the sorcerer takes out that sling ring of his and prepares to open a portal. Tony already has JARVIS sending an image to him so he could visualize where they need to go.

"_Excuse_ _you_. I look _adorable_." He crosses his arms over his chest and mock pouts. He has a killer pout, too. Rhodey used to tease him that he could take over the world with it. He gladly utilizes it against Stephen, who's staring at him with shock. The pink dusting his cheekbones is more prominent now. It's, dare he say it, cute. Endearing.

"Do you want your lasagna or not?" Strange groused like the Grinch at Christmas and Tony only grinned. Strange's portals didn't make him freak out, which was great. He _was_ a little of weary of them at first, but he's gotten used to them by now. He knew he could trust Strange not to harm or betray him and wasn't that just the most refreshing feeling after what another Steven did to him. It was amazing to look into this ring of sparks and see his favorite restaurant in Italy, literally just a few steps and seconds away as to opposed to thousands of miles and several hours of flight as it should be. He can't _wait_ to learn to do this himself. "Your portal?" And Strange was now just being silly, an overexaggerated bow and indicating at the portal with a flourish sweep of an arm.

Tony rolled his eyes good naturedly and just took hold of Stephen's wrist, careful not to jostle his hand, and tugged him through the portal.

If his own cheeks felt warm, then no one had to know about that.


	25. Chapter 25

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

The first threat that required the New Avengers and the rouge Avengers to team up to fight happened a month later in the form of a small group of alien criminals that had managed to escape from some space prison. They were humanoid in shape with black skin like exoskeleton that was actually as tough as diamonds, so Wakanda's Vibranium and young Laura's and Wolverine's Adamantium claws were invaluable in the fight. However, the things didn't go down easy, even when you chopped their heads off. They just got right back up again, their severed limbs growing back no matter how they were severed. What was worse, they seemed to breathe laser beams - yes, _breathe_ \- and were immune to magnetic or electric attacks due to their similarity with diamonds. Heat wasn't the solution, either, and there was only so many times that Captain America, the Black Panther, Logan and his daughter could cut off their limbs before tiring out.

Oh, and their lasers? They made a scratch on Steve's new Vibranium shield, which had Logan pulling Laura off of the field in seconds, not that anyone blamed him. Vibranium was supposed to absorb the impact of _anything_ and yet these being had made a chipping of sorts. Adamantium may be the strongest metal but Logan wasn't taking any chances. Laura wouldn't have even _been_ out on the field had it not been proven that only Adamantium and Vibranium can make a dent.

On the bright side, _magic_ seemed to be doing _wonders_ out in the field. Wong and Stephen had a shield out that was actually capable of taking the brunt of the lasers without much effort on their part. Tony had offered to help but neither sorcerer had allowed it, saying that his new skills should be kept secret as they were there in the first place to surprise Mordo if he dared come after him again. Stark had conceded but hadn't been happy with it, which was fair enough. His shields had come along nicely and he _would_ have been of great help, but _priorities_. And the whips and binds and weapons conjured by magic seemed to slow them down enough for one of the sorcerers to actually _bind_ them, which was good news. Only the things still managed to escape and come back for more.

It was a good thing Thor and Loki arrived in time with the Hulk and their friend Valkyrie, Brunhilda. Blunt force didn't do anything and lightning was useless but Loki's abilities as a Frost Giant and as another sorcerer helped a great deal. For one, three sorcerers can easily bind them. For another, while _heat_ may not have any effect, _ice_ did _wonders_. The being did not break, but they _did_ freeze under the intensive cold of Jotenheim that Loki dished out. Stephen and Wong saw this and quickly changed tactics. Stephen, being the stronger one, joined Loki in the ice assault and the freezing powers of the two sorcerers quickly slowed down, immobilized and soon put on ice the creatures, whom Loki and Thor referred to by a name almost unpronounceable by a human language. The strange chemical structure and components of their bodies was intriguing enough that Tony had scanned through every reaction they had to every attack and he had the temperature at which they freeze but stay alive. With his nanotech, he easily replicated an ice cannon and set the temperature, joining Loki and Stephen until every single last one of them was a frozen popsicle of incredible material.

Stephen and Loki then did their thing and created a magical containing unit that would leave them frozen and inaccessible by anyone else, ending the fight. Tony had then watched as Loki glared at Strange but it didn't appear as hostile as the god probably wanted. They shook hands and that should have been that, but not a second later, JOCASTA flared an _incoming_ to JARVIS right before _another_ ship landed in Earth's atmosphere. The difference? These guys at least _tried_ contacting someone and JOCASTA, bless her, had sent them right to the battle ready Avengers. The group that came out of the ship - which didn't look stolen or banged up - was the weirdest group of people Tony had ever met and that was saying something, since he knew _all sorts_ of people by this point.

There was a girl with antlers, a big green guy with red markings all over his body and questionable intelligence, a green young woman with reddish purple hair and two wicked sharp blades, a human-looking guy - although scans indicated he was only 50% human, thank you FRIDAY - with a freaky mask and _a talking raccoon and a tree_. Honestly, the most normal of the bunch was the green woman, Tony swore to whatever would listen. And he prayed for patience, since _they_ were the ones who accidentally chased these things onto Earth. They called themselves the Guardians of the Galaxy, a little flashy, even for Tony's and Johnny's tastes combined, but Thor could vouch for them since even on Asgard they heard of them before ... Yeah. They went by Mantis, Drax, Gamora, Peter Quill, Rocket and Groot and they were here to take the things back to whatever intergalactic prison kept such beings imprisoned.

They had Carol's and Thor's green light, which led Tony to giving them one, too, and even their resident Sorcerer Supreme wanted the things off of Earth as fast as they can leave, but that's where New SHIELD and Captain America had to stick their noses in where it's none of their business. The Accords Council had nothing against returning those guys to their rightful prisons and booting them off of the planet, but Fury must have noticed the same potential in their body structure that Tony had and wanted a closer look. Tony himself was more than satisfied with the slightly baffling scans he got but Fury wanted to prob further, since weapons - _Oh, sorry, do you want me to call them something they're not, Nicky?_ \- made of such a material would definitely come in handy, his words, not Tony's. Tony was already planning on how to synthesize the material for body suits, because _protection_ was their _obvious_ function, but he won't do any intrusive research because he recognized that _that is their organic matter_, like skin and flesh was for humans.

Which is exactly why neither the Asgardians or the Guardians of the Galaxy were allowing said research. Standing with gods and aliens and sorcerers as he told Fury and Rodgers - who wanted to _hold them accosted for their crimes_, what a hypocrite - no.

Which is how he ended up sitting between Carol and Stephen at a long conference table in the Avengers Compound with Everett Ross and Nick Fury on either head of the table, stubbornly glaring at each other while the rest of the Avengers, both old and New, were seated around it, also on opposite sides. It was amazing how, once upon a time, there had been more people sitting _opposite_ him than beside him. Now he had the upper hand, between the New Avengers, the Defenders, the Fantastic Four, the two mutants who had helped them today and as such had to be at the debriefing and the two Asgardians. The Guardians of the Galaxy stood with Ross, arguing with Fury how it was violating galactic law to experiment on living beings and Laura was cursing Fury in Spanish like a champ from where she stood with her father. Wolverine himself looked ready to chop Rodgers to pieces and Thor seemed greatly disappointed in how his shield brothers were acting now.

It was a mad house and it wasn't helping that T'Challa wanted tests on the creatures' bodies, too, since their lasers were the first thing ever to cause any form of damage in Vibranium. Tony longed to tell him that his precious metal that his country so selfishly kept for themselves - there were _millions_ of uses for Vibranium that could _save lives_ each day, starting with better earthquake resistant architecture - wasn't nearly as indestructible as he liked to think. Tony knew how to destroy Vibranium, it was just a costly process. And a total waste of perfectly usable Starkenium. Anyway, SHIELD was up to their old tricks of using alien (tech) to make weapons of mass destruction, the New Avengers tried to step up for the trapped aliens, Loki looked tempted to stab someone and so did Gamora, Rocket was a sarcastic little dick that Tony was totally going to give one of his old guns after he saw him eying Bucky's, Bruce actually looked like losing control for the first time since coming back and Stephen's eyebrow was starting to twitch.

Tony sighed and, as expected, the arguing stopped and they all turned their attention to him. It's how he always got attention from his old team, when he was actively looking to annoy them. They then called him an arrogant attention seeker and he let them because at least he got to point out something useful and they actually discussed what needed to be discussed. Seeing how Thor had started shouting and dealing out the word 'moron' and, like, a dozen other insults no one but Loki - and maybe Bruce and their new alien visitors - understood and how Quill was throwing out curses and Deadpool - when had _he_ gotten here?! - was cussing because Logan got to cuss, too, it was obviously needed lest they want Strange to actually open a gateway to this Dark Dimension and release Dormammu on them. It would not be worth it, no matter how much his raging headache argued.

"Got somethin' ta say?" Rocket beat everyone to it and asked with a challenging glare, petting his gun. Tony just shrugged. He'd faced far worse than a trigger happy raccoon, although that _was_ a new one.

"Not really. It's not up to me. As far as I'm concerned, as the face of the Accords and the leader of the Avengers, our job was done the second a way to securely get those guys off our planet has occurred, which would have been achieved either by using the Bifrost to cart them off back to their prison unit or, now that you guys are here, by handing them over to you so _you_ can cart them off back to their cells. We don't have any authority to hold them, even though Earth could probably sue that prison since threw was quite a bit of collateral damage from their rampage, thankfully no casualties, though, so we'll skip that, too. My company can more than afford it." He shrugged at the shocked looks the six - well, five. Groot wasn't paying attention to anything but his video game. Tony will have to get him something better than the crap he was currently rotting his brain (does he even have a brain?) with - gave him at that. "It would be best that we don't draw attention to Earth more than necessary."

Because, after all, drawing attention to Earth would reveal that _three Infinity Stones_ were casually carried around by three not so common beings. Vision and Loki weren't even human and Strange's magic constantly flew through him since he had to keep an eye on the entire multiverse and feel for any disturbances. It was subtle but if Tony's scanners can pick it up, so can others. Not to mention that the Time Stone _also_ gave off its own energy signature. The less intergalactic beings looked at Earth, the less they will find or be prepared for and Earth will be all the better for it. Safer. More surprising should some unplanned for attack occur before Thanos comes knocking.

"And why would that be?" Fury asked, sending a meaningful look his way. "Wouldn't some finances and allies from outer space be much appreciated?"

"The Kree have agreed to help should Captain Marvel call and Thor has a few allies on other planets. The sorcerers of Kamar-Taj also have interdimensional allies whom they can call upon in their time of need." Stark replied with another casual shrug of his shoulders. "We have an Infinity Stone, Fury. The more we draw attention to ourselves, the more likely is the situation that someone will come and try to yank it out of Vision. It will happen either way, sooner or later, but I'd rather it be later than sooner, if you don't mind."

"Wait, hold up." Peter, the older one, not Spider-man, said incredulously, staring in renewed shock at Tony. "You have an Infinity Stone? In a person?"

"Yes, that would be me." Vision even waved to get his attention, casual as an android in the center of attention can be. The Mind Stone glinted in his red forehead.

"You need to get out of here, man. Off of this planet. Hide somewhere. Because Thanos recently got the Reality Stone and he already had the Power Stone, so he's, like, definitely going to come after you, soon." Quill explained in an authoritative voice and everyone in the room tensed, some more notably than the others. Tony exchanged looks with a rigid Loki and a rock still Strange and Wong and they all nodded, knowing the time was coming and that they needed to prepare. Or rather, to speed up the preparations already put into motion and better the defenses put into place.

"You don't seem surprised." Damn. Gamora was looking right at him and the three sorcerers. Tony knew this was not going to come out ideally as he would have liked. In all honesty, he only wanted his team and the teams that have signed the Accords to participate in this, to know about it, before the Mad Titan comes. Because Rodgers and his lot? They'll question every decision made until it was according to their _sensibilities_. Please do note the sarcasm on the last word because Tony couldn't load into it any more. He was already fearing he had used up his sarcasm for the next twenty years, if he even lives that long.

"I met him once. You might remember me, _daughter of Thanos_." Loki Silvertongue expertly deflected, drawing all the attention to the green woman, who looked grieved and disgusted at the title.

"He killed half of my people, including my mother, and took me from my home planet when I was just a child, twenty years ago. There is not a person in this room that hates him more than I do." Gamora hissed in a dangerous tone of voice and Tony recognized her for what she was. A killer. An assassin. Trained to take life but choosing to take another path. Or something like that. He thinks he might come to like her. She definitely didn't suffer anyone's bullshit.

"He killed my family, too, and did the same on my planet." Drax growled before going into some sort of revenge rant.

"Thanos is a menace, a plague on the universe." Thor agrees, clenching his fists. "If he _is_ coming, I may need to go to Nidavellir. Half of Asgard's people is already gone and it is my sworn duty as their king to protect the remaining half. And Earth, who has offered us a home so selflessly, must not suffer such a fate."

"No world should," Carol agrees, her own fists clenched. "If the Kree and the Skrulls can stop fighting so they can focus on Thanos, then you can understand just how big of a threat he is."

"He needs to be stopped." Tony says and they all nod in agreement. The first thing the agreed on in years. And it's the end of the world. Tony can already feel the headache that will come from the meetings that will no doubt come after this. This was a prelude of a nightmare.

"But how did you know about Thanos before we told you?" Rocket asks again and Stephen and Tony exchange a look before the good doctor faces the room at large. Ross looks pale but determined to be of _some_ help. Tony could respect that. Ross was a civilian through and through but he was a tough one. Perfect for the tough job he'd been given.

"I am Earth's Sorcerer Supreme and I protect our planet from inter- and extradimensional threats, mostly mystical in nature. Protecting reality and the multiverse is my duty and, in return, the multiverse occasionally makes my job easier. Upon researching a local matter, we at Kamar-Taj have come across the information that Thanos was coming for the Infinity Stones on Earth. We've enlisted Tony Stark's help to better prepare for-"

"Hold on a minute. _Stones_?!" A wide eyed, disbelieving Wilson interrupted. "As in, more than one? Multiple?!"

"Damn it, Strange," both Tony and Loki hissed under their breath and all eyes turned to the Master of the Mystic Arts, who looked as impassive as ever. Wong, though, had his bitch face on over his shoulder and the Cloak of Levitation had ruffled in what Tony now recognized as a protective gesture.

"Forget about that. Did you just say _Stark_!?" Gamora pushed Ross and Quill out of the way, slamming her hands on the table and looking at Stephen with a wild look in her eyes. Something between desperation and hope and wonder and curiosity and skepticism. All wrapped up in a nice little whirlwind of a package. "Where is he? Take me to him!"

"Wow. What did you fuck up now, Stark?" Wanda dared sound impressed even as the attention of the room now turned to him. For some reason, Stephen was more tense now that Tony had been brought into discussion than the Infinity Stones.

"Friend Stark, how do the Guardians of the Galaxy know of you?" Thor asked with a scrutinizing look at the billionaire.

"We don't!" Quill insisted at the same time Tony said "Hell if I know!" That had Gamora's eyes locking on him before she stormed her way around the table until she stood in front of him. Tony uneasily stood up, not wanting to be in such a vulnerable position. Strange's hands already glowed with a spell and Loki had phased a dagger into his hand should the alien woman try something.

"I do." Gamora says as she comes to stand in front of him. She locks onto his Arc Reactor before something a lot like relief floods through her and Tony swears she looks ready to hug him. "And so does Thanos."

"What?" The genius feels like the air is knocked out of his already abused lungs, not believing his ears. Because she _couldn't_ have just said that, right?

"How does an intergalactic warlord know the name of a single, simple human? No offense." Carol asks the question that is on everyone's mind as they stare at the pair. Tony, however, turns to look at Strange and sees no surprise. He sees resignation and acceptance. Tony feels cold. Strange had known? How-? The Time Stone. That's gotta be how. If it has power over time, maybe he went into the future somehow? Or just saw it. And of course he couldn't tell Tony. It could change the future or create a loop or a paradox or any of that shit. Strange probably had a plan on how to go about this and anyone else knowing about it might try to change something, interfere with something they don't agree - and god, does Tony know he'd probably do something like that - and bring in a new variable that might mess up the outcome. But it still hurts to know the one person he had so easily learned to trust, despite everything, had in the end betrayed him, in a way.

"Stark destroyed half of the biggest intergalactic army with a single strike. Thanos was ... impressed. He has some twisted sort of respect for you." Gamora told him, searching for words and effectively drawing his attention away from Strange. "And he fears you."

"What?" Tony barely breathed out that question, because, seriously, _what_? The respect part he can even understand. The nuke thrown at Manhattan had been his father's design that Tony had improved several times but never gave authorization to be used, that much he had known the second he had seen it flying towards them. The World Security Council must have managed to get SHIELD one from Stane under the table. There was no other explanation. So yes, respect and impressed he can understand. He _had_ been ready to die for his planet and he _had_ apparently managed to take out quite a bite out of Thanos' army. But _fear_? What _is_ there to fear about _him_?

"He fears you. He does not say as much, but I have - however unfortunately - been around him long enough to see it. I at first didn't understand it, as I have never seen him fear _anything_. But he fears _you_. If he comes and you fight him, he will aim to kill you." Gamora told him with absolute certainty in her tone. "You will not be left for his 'merciful' random selection should he get all six Infinity Stones. He will kill you himself."

There was a long stretch of silence before Rodgers cleared his throat. "As ... interesting as this topic of conversation is," he got several sever glares from the Accords approved heroes for that. Tony was touched by their reactions. "Shouldn't we be discussing the fact that there are _multiple_ Infinity Stones on Earth as opposed to the _one_ we know about? Or how about the location of the fifth and sixth stone? Shouldn't we try to get them first so we can protect them?"

"The Tesseract was lost when Asgard fell. The only one remaining to find is the Soul Stone, but I was under the impression that no one knew where it was, not that it was on Earth." Tony couldn't help it. He turned to look at Thor incredulously, because _seriously_!?

"I've known your brother for less than twenty four hours and only had one real conversation with him and even back _then_, I could have told you what he would have done! I _knew_ when he came back to Earth with you four months ago!"

"_Stark_!" Loki barked at him but it was too late. At the look he was getting from his brother, Loki sighed and muttered curses under his breathe as he held up his hand and the Tesseract, shinning an intact, appeared in his hand. He ignored how the rouges looked horrified to see it and instead not-pouted at the blond Asgardian.

"You're the worst, brother." It said a lot about their relationship how Thor actually _wasn't_ surprised. Fury, though, turned furious eyes at Tony.

"You _knew_ about this and you _never_ _said_ _anything_?!" The director demanded but Tony could only shrug. It was out of his hands, now, while somehow all the cards still being _in_ his hands. Isn't _that_ a paradox.

"Oh, I said something. I have several witnesses and confidants I've said something to. Partners who knew how to help out. You just weren't them."

"Well, this just got even more batshit crazy. Should have turned this job down. It was _easy_, they said. Just bring back the escaped prisoners, they said. Nothing about crazy Earthlings having multiple Infinity Stones on their planet!" Quill grumbled under his breath before facing the room at large. "Okay, since we are _sure_ that it's not the Soul Stone that is here and no one _knows_ where it is-" Was it just him or did Gamora twitch at that? JARVIS informed him that, no, it wasn't just him. She _had_.

_'Does _she_ know where it is?'_

_-Possible, Boss.-_

"Are there no more surprises on Earth? Because two Infinity Stones is already tempting fate enough." And Tony had to agree with that. But the Time Stone was actually pretty well cloaked from detection. Tony can't track it but his scanners _can_ pick it up if it's in close proximity. No need to tell-

"Strange," Loki pointedly says and Tony turns to look at the god of mischief with an incredulous expression, because _SERIOUSLY_?! No one _knew_ about the Time Stone _ever_ being on Earth except the Masters of the Mystic Arts! _Why_ would he _do_ this?! But it was too late. The damage was done. Everyone was eying Stephen expectantly, with scrutinizing gazes. The New Avengers, the Defenders, the Fantastic Four and the three mutants (yes, even Deadpool) present already _knew_ about this, even if Stephen had never confirmed or denied it that he carried the thing around each and every day so he can better keep an eye on it. Wong, too, but that was a given. The rouges, New SHIELD, the Guardians of the Galaxy and Ross _didn't_ so they were eying him suspiciously.

And Stephen?

He just opened the eye and let the green light illuminate the room.

"Since the first Sorcerer Supreme, the Order of Mystic Arts has been guarding the Time Stone ... "

And so it began.


	26. Chapter 26

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

The meeting was ruthless and pointless and downright exhausting but Stephen didn't dare complain, even in his own mind, for he felt he deserved this. He had seen the moment Tony realized he had kept something this important from him and he knew, whatever friendship and trust they have developed for each other was shaken with his deception. So he endured and answered questions these people _really_ had no business asking - like what gave him the authority to keep the Time Stone or why he and the sorcerers had a special multi-paragraph clause dedicated to them and who decided he was their leader and where Kamar-Taj was - and he had never before been so grateful for Wong as he was now, when the man shot down every stupid question with a one word answer that seemed to frustrate the hell out of the old Avengers.

But the meeting was now over, everyone agreeing more meetings of a similar nature will be required but that it can wait for tomorrow as the Guardians of the Galaxy were shown to their rooms and Tony was whisked away by Scott and Hope so that the three of them could consult with Hank on how good of an idea it is to shrink the creatures they've captured. For their own safety while on Earth - SHIELD will never be able to get to them when they are that small - and for easier transport for the Guardians - apparently, there is a containment unit that, as long as it's locked, can keep them small but will let them back to their normal size as soon as it's unlocked and opened. Stephen had no doubt that this discussion will probably somehow lead Tony back to one of their own previous discussions about using the Mirror Dimension to contain threats and how it could serve as a form of a prison for superpowered individuals. There _is_ one version of their world where Tony, Pym and the Masters of the Mystic Arts create such a prison - shrunk so no one can get to the prisoners and if the prisoners get out, remain quantum realm small within the Mirror Dimension, where the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj just bring them food. They'd never escape, that was for certain. Stephen wondered briefly if Tony will come up with the same idea in this reality, too.

He shakes those thoughts off, sighing tiredly as he sits and waits in the workshop, waiting for its grand architect to come back. He owed Tony many apologies and possibly even more explanations and he hated himself for not being able to give them yet. Some, maybe never. JARVIS and FRIDAY remain polite to him, friendly, despite how he had done the same as everyone they disliked and kept things from Tony. Dum-E, U and Butterfingers beeped and fretted around him, curious and apparently worried for how ragged he looked. He didn't deserve this kindness and he didn't deserve their trust. And he hated himself even more for enjoying it while dreading the moment Tony comes and decides he's had enough. Stephen always knew he was never meant to keep nice things in his life. He never realized how much it would hurt to lose _Tony_ until he was faced with the possibility. Be had known it would hurt - how could it not? - but it had never occurred to him just how much.

And things had been going so _well_ these past few months, despite the galactic conquerer of a mad man hanging over their heads. They had managed to put defenses in place - although it would seem the shielding around Earth had to be updated to withstand light-speed travel; they had things in place against teleportation of any kind but nothing to counter light-speed travel - and gathered several teams of extraordinary people to help them defend their planet and the rest of the universe. They had managed to get villains to stop making a mess - even having permanent or temporary agreements and truces with some of them, like the Brotherhood or Doom - and had united people who have been living in seclusion or isolation from the rest of the world under the banner of the Accords. And he and Tony had become colleagues, teammates, and, most of all, friends. Stephen hated to think that it was over or on the brink of being over, but he won't begrudge Stark if he were pissed enough with him to never talk to him again outside of a professional setting, no matter how much it might hurt. He had made his own bed and now it was time to sleep in it. Even if it was to ensure the continued balance and survival of the universe. Hell, the _multiverse_.

Somehow, it still didn't feel worth it, losing Tony like that.

Stephen's head shot up when he heard the almost noiseless sound of the lab's doors opening and in came the man of his thoughts, looking as ragged as Stephen felt, although his eyes were hard set in determination despite how his body looked on the brink of collapse. It would seem he had overestimated how much Extremis can help him in his sleepless nights marathon and today had only made it obvious. Or maybe it was just dealing with his old team, Pym's usual brand of ... Pymness and now with Stephen. It made the sorcerer even more guilt ridden than before, to be adding to Tony's already stress-packed life when he had set out in the beginning to make things _easier_ for the man. If he's ever given a chance, Stephen swears he'll do everything in his considerable power to help him.

Tony grunted in his direction before slumping into his chair at the work station, his eyes flashing blue and holograms appearing between them. It felt like both a dismissal and a challenge: would Stephen take the opportunity to leave and never answer Tony's question with such a clear dismissal or will he stay and face the consequences of his actions? Stephen stayed, because it was all about accountability. It's always been about accountability. The rouges had not accepted it - except Scott, but he actually had a brain in his head, not just a single cell he shared with several others, despite how adorably foolish (Tony's and Hope's words, not his) he acted most of the time - and it had led to the Civil War. When he had come to Stark, Stephen had insisted that he was _all_ about accountability since he was a doctor. Since Tony didn't outright tell him to leave and never come back, Stephen stayed.

He stayed there, sitting and doing nothing - as opposed to how previous such outings have taken place, what with him studying or meditating if they weren't in the mood for conversation - for an hour when Tony finally deemed he had tested him enough, shut off his workstation but did not disconnect from the web. Stephen had no doubt that JARVIS and FRIDAY were monitoring his reactions to biologically and chemically confirm whether he was telling the truth and presenting Tony with all the readings they find. The lack of trust stung but Stephen accepted it. He had done this and now he will live with the results. He knows it will never affect their working relationship - Tony would never put himself before the safety of everyone (_It's not about you_) - but he still hurt, right in his heart, at the thought of their strange brand of intimacy disappearing like dust in the wind.

He will not begrudge it, but he will regret it.

"Would you have ever told me?" Tony asked and that was _not_ the first question Stephen expected of him. More something like _Why didn't you tell me? I deserved to know!_ Or maybe _I thought we agreed to talk about things, to solve them together._ Or _This is not how a partnership works_. Maybe even _This is how the Avengers originally broke up._This? He never expected this.

"What?" He asked helplessly, confused. Tony just sighed and looked at him with tired eyes. Stephen hated that look and resented himself for being the one to put it there, this time.

"I can already guess as to why you didn't tell me - it's obvious, you being the magical guru of the Time Stone and all - and I won't lie and say I'm not a little disappointed, but, hey, whatever keeps everyone safe, you know?" Stephen stared at him in wonder as he shrugged. Of course Tony had figured it out. Stephen shouldn't even be surprised. He'd seen Tony do the impossible before, why was he surprised now? He still winced at the disappointment part. He deserved that, he knew. "But if there was a safe way for you to have told me, would you?"

Steohen hesitated for a moment before deciding to be as honest as he could be. "I ... I don't know." He admitted and watched Tony become rigid as a wall. "There are many things I cannot tell you. Not now. Some maybe not ever. But there are still many things I _could_ tell you, but only after this is all over. I was not joking when I said this is a universal threat, Tony, or a danger to the multiverse itself. This battle we are preparing to fight will be a turning point, for better or for worse. And it's up to us to see it through." _It's up to _you_ to see us all through_, he thinks, wants to say, but knows he mustn't.

"What did you see?" The scientist in Tony was rearing its head and Strange couldn't help but smile fondly at him.

"Fourteen million six hundred and five possible futures." He watches as his companion takes in a sharp breath, unbelieving eyes trained on him and his smile turns bitter. "Thanos is a tough opponent. Our chances of victory, as they had been when I first viewed them, were slim to none. I've done the only thing that seemed to make a difference. I threw _you_ into the equation from the start. I don't know if it - this," he points between them, indicating their working together, their partnership, their friendship. "Will make a difference. If it does, we're preventing a horrible nightmare from becoming reality. If it doesn't, I'll know when to push or prod to steer it back to a place where we are _fixing_ the situation."

"Don't you know that trying to prevent something usually makes it happen? It's, like, the rule of all paradoxes when time traveling, Harry Potter." Strange doesn't know whether he should be relieved, stunned or not at all surprised by Tony's apparent infinity capacity for forgiveness. It may sound like nothing special to anyone else, but Stephen knew only people Tony liked got infuriating nicknames from the man.

"That's why I'm not trying to _prevent_ anything. All that has led up to the original attack stayed the same. Mostly. I let it run its course. I _know_ about loops and paradoxes in the fabric of time, Tony. I have to." Messing around with the Time Stone could more easily break reality than even the other five Infinity Stones put together to preform that same task. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you." He adds after a pause, letting the true depth of his regret and honesty bleed into his tone. Just a couple of years ago, when he was still a world class neurosurgeon, he would have rather spent two whole weeks working in ER (his own arrogantly, horribly misleadingly perceived hell) than apologize, let alone show so much weakness by being this sincere. He knows very well how big his ego was - still is, from time to time, much to his chagrin when he realizes - and he's not proud of it. Apologizing had been beneath him.

Now, he would _beg_ for Tony's forgiveness. Well, maybe not _beg_ but something awfully close.

"It's okay. I said I understand and I really do. I mean it." Stark sent him a significant glance and only then did Stephen realize he had shut off the Extremis and his connection to the web. "I know I'm probably the worst imaginable person to tell the future to because I'd probably end up changing everything and messing whatever carefully laid plans you have. Doesn't mean you couldn't have _said_ something, Doc. Like, oh, I don't know: _Tony, a mad, intergalactic warlord who wants to destroy half of life in the universe knows you by name and wants to kill you because you blew up a good chunk of his army some six years ago_. I would have appreciated that."

"To be fair," Stephen began, relaxing a little now that he saw he wasn't going to end up in the dog house, do to say. He felt he had at least a little bit of right to defend himself. "I only saw _glimpses_ of the future - or _futures_, I guess - because knowing the future in _any_ form beyond possibilities is too dangerous for the continued natural balance of the multiverse. Since my job was to protect it, I looked only at glimpses. Besides, even with the Time Stone and my eidetic memory, not even _I_ can access all the memories of all the things that I've seen. It's humanly impossible." He pauses, frowning at Tony in thought. "Although _you_ might, since technically you are now three genius minds at once. With FRIDAY and JARVIS there to help you process everything, maybe you could have done it."

"Jealous that my science beat your bibbidi-bobbidi-boo?" The engineer grinned from ear to ear, voice easy and teasing and Stephen snorted good naturally.

"Dream on, wonder boy." They just grinned at each other and whatever tension had been in the room when this discussion started, vanished. Stephen took a moment to bask in it before risking the discussion. "I don't mean to sound ungrateful or relieved or honored and touched and humbled, all at once, about you forgiving me, but I must confess to a curiosity regarding it. I haven't exactly been the most forthcoming with you and yet you continue to trust me. Why is that?"

Tony leaned his elbow on the workstation, resting his chin on his propped hand, the other fiddling with something Stephen couldn't see from his lower vintage point but was sure looked a lot like a bracelet. What a man like Tony Stark would need with a bracelet - although probably the most technologically advanced one on earth, whatever it was that it did because there was _no way_ it didn't do _anything_ \- befuddled him but Stephen was willing to ignore it. For now. He can always ask later.

"Well, several factors. One, you actually had a legitimate reason and the authority not to tell me and you _did_ warn me that there will be instances like that at our first meeting. I had agreed and as such have no right to complain. Much." He grinned playfully and the sorcerer rolled his eyes. He ignored the jibe at Rodgers and his need to keep a _personal_ secret regarding _Tony_ for no other reason than because he didn't want to let the man be rightfully angry at his parent's killer. Stephen knew Tony would be pissed but would calm down, get over it and see things rationally. He'd probably just punch Barnes and be done with it. As opposed to him, Stephen's secret had kind of been a little more universal-threat and he couldn't be expected to remember _every detail_ of what he had seen.

There was a difference and Stephen was glad that it had been pointed out by the genius himself.

"Two, you actually faced my possible - _probable_ \- wrath and said you were sorry for not telling me something that in some way affects me. I can respect that. I _admire_ that. And you said it to my face, which is a big fat bonus for you. Three, you _earned_ my trust. You didn't _demand_ it." Tony shrugged, firing up the holographic displays with a motion of his hand. Extremis or not, two genius AIs to filter everything or not, genius or not, the amount of information going through the Internet, even when not being used directly, would be too much for a human brain. Tony uses Extremis only when he doesn't want anyone to realize he was doing something or no convenient good enough computer or any other electronic device was nearby. "Four, you didn't _lie_. You didn't even _try_. And I appreciate that, perhaps more than you can realize. And five, you _always_ seem to be looking out for me."

Stephen's heart thundered at the soft smile the genius directed his way. He was sure it was actually pretty hazardous for his health.

"Maybe that's normal for most people, but until just a few months ago, I only had Rhodey, Happy and Pepper. And my bots, but you could have guessed that. Well, there _is_ Peter but he is also a relatively recent addition, and Harley lived too far away to always be around back then, so yeah." He looks away, back to whatever it was he was now working on. "Then _you_ came along and even though you heralded the end of the world, you also brought to me things I haven't had for a year and some months. I can honestly call you one of my closest friends, Stephen. I don't have many of those."

Stephen.

_Stephen_!

_'He called me Stephen,'_ was all that was spinning in his head. Tony rarely addressed him by his name. He'd usually use every magic reference under the sun or call him Strange or Doc or some combination of all three, but Stephen was a very rare occurrence.

"Besides, if J didn't zap you the second we all realized you kept secrets from me, you have to be _redeemable_, if nothing else. JARVIS is a nightmare for anyone he doesn't like. Ask SHIELD, they know. And I also have my baby girl now, too. They'd _ruin_ you."

"Indeed, Boss." The younger AI said ominously.

"For you, Sir? _Always_." The promise threatened to send a shiver down his spine. It felt almost like a threat. Almost.

"Thanks," Stephen breathed out, content to just be in Tony's presence now that the air has been cleared. He considered reading a book before deciding against it and just crossing his legs, getting into a meditating position and preparing to search the multiverse for any trouble. Before he could, though, Tony spoke up.

"So, are your sorcerer friends really peeping on me for years now or was that just an excuse?" Please do excuse Stephen for choking on his own tongue because, yeah, he should have seen _that_ one coming if Tony had somehow, miraculously, figured out the Time Stone without anyone telling him about its powers and the abilities that it grants.

"It's actually a little bit of both. I didn't know about it until Mordo started targeting you and one of the Masters deigned to be all 'Oh! That might have to do something with the whole monitoring Tony Stark since he was a kid things that the Ancient Ones has had us doing for years! Just so you know, Master Strange.' Seriously, I know I've been Sorcerer Supreme for an infinitely shorter amount of time than the Ancient One but _how_ am I supposed to protect the Earth and the multiverse if they don't _tell_ me these things."

Tony grunted in understanding. "So they're a mystical, magical version of SHIELD that expects you to _dance to their pipe_ without telling you the song first? Yeah, no. I couldn't do that. I hacked SHIELD within my first thirty minutes within the Helicarrier." Stephen sent him a look and Tony chuckled. "Not that I haven't done it _before_ that, too, but that one was memorable, okay? Rodgers and I nearly had a brawl right there, in front of the Hulk and the Mind Stone. God, have we always been destined to fight? Sure seems like it with each passing day."

The Master of the Mystic Arts hummed and started levitating above the couch, if for no other reason than to annoy Tony. "I don't know if this helps or if it will make you feel worse, but you and Rodgers often go down this road in the other timelines. Sometimes it is really about the Accords, other times you clash long before they are even a thought in someone's mind. There are, of course, timelines in which you stay friends but usually one of you dies before five years pass since your first meeting."

The shorter man scrunched up his face. "I really didn't need to know, Doc. Now, on to more important matters than other Rodgers and mes." Tony suddenly pulled a hologram right in front of Stephen, startling him for a second. He looks at it as Tony asks one question that nearly has him in stitches due to its irony. "What do you think about making a microscopic prison within the Mirror Dimension in Kamar-Taj?"

It is good that some things never change.


	27. Chapter 27

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

"You sure you want to do this, Merlin?" Tony asked as he stood with Peter, Loki, Heimdall, Bruce, Brunhilda and four of the six Guardians of the Galaxy to see off Thor, Rocket, Groot and Stephen to Nivadellir for Thor to get a Thanos-killing kind of weapon from the Dwarf king Eitri. Knowing what he does, Tony figures Stephen going is important to the overall outcome of their upcoming fight with Thanos but he's not happy with the sorcerer leaving either way. Neither is Loki, who was tasked with Tony's safety due to Wong having to watch the Sanctum in Stephen's absence and all the other sorcerers have to be extra vigilant in the absence of the Sorcerer Supreme. Loki is also not pleased since Thor was also leaving Asgard in his care in his absence or that he had to stay on Earth without his brother acting as a wall between Thanos and his Tesseract carrying self. The others are just worried.

"It is the best option that we have. The more allies we make and ensure, the better it is in the long run." The doctor explains as patiently as ever even as Quill, AKA Starlord, huffs.

"Why can't we all have Thanos-killing weapons?"

"No. You simply lack the strength to wield them. Your bodies would crumble as your minds collapsed into madness." Thor explained with a roll of his eyes. The other three Asgardians present ignored the nagging of the other aliens, just standing there and being silent support.

"Is it weird that I wanna do it even more now?" Rocket asked and Tony couldn't help but send a disturbed _look_ at the obviously mentally disturbed raccoon. Loki and Peter definitely shared his opinion.

"Mmm, a little bit, yeah." Thor agrees, too, and Stephen just sighs in a manner Tony recognizes all too well. He doesn't know whether he should pity the man or snicker at his own chosen torture. Seriously, for a guy who had seen fourteen million plus futures, he had to be pretty dumb not to have seen this headache in the making coming.

"Seeing as we're facing a threat who plans to destroy life on a scale hitherto undreampt of, maybe we should minimize unnecessary injuries and maximize our power potentials and victory chances in the foreseeable future, hm?"

Tony _does_ snicker this time. "Did you seriously just say 'hitherto undreampt of'?"

"Did you seriously assign me to watch this mortal?" Loki said a beat after him, raising a challenging eyebrow at the Master of the New York Sanctum. Strange gave them both flat looks.

"Yes."

"Why?" The Trickster questioned again, the look on his face turning suspicious. Loki had been there when Stephen had informed the Accords approved team that Tony was being hunted by a rouge sorcerer who had turned away from the teachings of Kamar-Taj, but he, and no one else but Tony's AIs, Wong and Stephen knew that Tony was receiving training in the Mystic Arts. Not that any of them would even believe it that Tony Stark, known hater of magic, was _willingly learning_ it.

Stephen have him another flat look and Loki grumbled for whatever reason. Tony arched an eyebrow at Stephen, who returned to look while still managing to appear completely deadpan and unimpressed. Tony guessed Loki probably conceded to the fact that Tony was important in securing _all_ of their safety from Thanos and had simply decided not to argue. God, how was this his life? Babysat by the very god of mischief who threw him out through the windows of his own Tower. Well, not that _that_ was a problem anymore.

Tony wondered if he should tell anyone about Mark L and Extremis, if only for their piece of mind, but then decided he's allowed to have a few of his own secrets. Strange may know about the Extremis but he had _no idea_ how well Tony had mastered nanotech. Let T'Challa and Shuri and Wakanda and the rest of the world think the Black Panther suit is a big deal. Tony's always been one for flashy and surprising entrances.

"When will you be getting back?" He instead asked and got a shrug from Thor. Strange, thankfully, had _some_ sort of time frame.

"Sometime around tomorrow evening, I venture. The morning after, at the latest. I can't afford to leave Earth unprotected any longer than that." That was good to hear. The less time Strange is away, the less Tony had to worry about. JOCASTA had informed FRIDAY just a couple of hours ago that the rouges had snook out to go to a secret meeting between themselves, enjoying the freedom the disarray within the UN and the Accords now that they knew an intergalactic threat might come to Earth. He'd rather have Strange on Earth when they do something stupid than deal with it on his own.

So Tony shrugged, even though he was pretty sure Strange had seen his relief at him not staying away too long. "At least I don't have to worry about my brain rotting away with boredom from lack of intelligent company in the lab all day." Sure, Peter was okay, but the kid had school and May Parker would kill Tony if Peter skipped classes just to do science all day with him in his workshop. Not to mention that the Spiderling had a patrol, too, just after school and then homework, which he can do in the lab but Tony has to not bother him for an hour or two so he can finish it before they can get to the interesting stuff. No such worried with Stephen, even when he was studying something from his magic books. He was almost as good at actual multitasking like Tony was.

He thought he saw Bruce fidget or flinch from the corner of his eye but he didn't look over to confirm it. Instead, he watched as the former neurosurgeon rolled his eyes and huffed in amusement. "Just don't do anything stupid or get into trouble while I'm away."

"Are you done?" Rocket, who was getting impatient to go to the place that makes the most powerful, horrific weapons to ever torment the universe as soon as possible, asked a little snappily. Stephen just sighed again before nodding to Tony and walking over to enter the escape pod that the Guardians had separated from the Milano in order to give the other group a ship for their journey. While Rocket and Groot were going to Nivadellir with Thor, Gamora, Drax, Mantis and Peter Quill will go to return the prisoners back to the prison from which they'd escaped from. After both teams are done with their missions, they are to return to Earth, as it was the most likely place Thanos will go to, next, what with their three Infinity Stones and the sixth Stone's location still unknown.

"Try not to burn down the planet while I'm gone," and with that, Sassy Supreme joined his group in the ship before Heimdall used the Bifrost and transported them to ... wherever Nivadellir was. Tony figured he should probably ask one of the Asgardians to give him the map of the universe since the other Guardians were also about to leave.

As if on cue, Quill came to stand in front of him and extended a hand for a shake. "Well, I guess this is it, for now. See you in a few days, I guess."

"You're always welcome on Earth. You are one of our own, even if only 50%." He smirked at the blond, who only rolled his eyes in good humor before saying his goodbyes to everyone else. Mantis and Drax were also friendly and casual in their farewells but Gamora came up to Tony and extended her own hand for a firm shake. He yelped when she drew him in and handed something to him with a whispered "Take care," before she was boarding her ship with her remaining teammates. Heimdall accessed the dark magic needed to call upon the Bifrost again - and wasn't it just _weird _that he had apparently trained enough that he could _feel _it now? - and transported the Guardians away in the same flashy rainbow light show that the first ship had disappeared in. Tony sighed and looked down at the device in his hand. If he didn't know any better, he would guess that it was a beacon. Or a thumb-drive.

_'JARVIS, buddy, start scanning this thing. FRIDAY, baby girl, I need you to prepare deciphering algorithms, deep space scanners and every tracking program we have. It looks like we'll be busy, kids. Delegate everything else to JOCASTA, SARAH and KAREN. I need you on this.'_ He instantly instructed, letting JARVIS get a good look at the device in his hand from the security cameras before pocketing the thing, nodding to the others and briskly walking away, heading somewhere he can activate his suit without anyone being around to see the nanobots cover his frame so he can head to his lab and work in peace.

_-Preparations complete, Boss. I have a port primed and ready to extract whatever information is on the device and two terabytes of memory on our servers prepared to store the information.-_ FRIDAY told him when he was already preparing to lit off, the suit secure and snug around him. God, the Mark II had been a sports car but this? Sleek, smooth, robust, shinny and ten years more advanced than the first model, which had been twenty to thirty years advanced than anything else? This was a fucking space shuttle. Tony loved it.

_-Scanners indicate that it is indeed a harmless storage device. Accessing primary information currently.-_ JARVIS informed him just as he was about to fire up the repulsors when he heard someone running up to him from behind.

"Tony, wait!" He couldn't help but stiffen under the armor upon hearing Banner's voice. Taking a deep breath before turning around to face his science bro - can he even still call them that? It was supposed to symbolize their friendship, but Bruce had turned on him and left when he had needed him the most. He hadn't stopped Thor from choking him any more than any of the other Avengers had and Thor had actually sheepishly approached him after one of the UN meetings regarding New Asgard and apologized and thanked him for _everything_, respectively. Bruce hadn't even bothered to talk to him until now - Tony had never before been so glad for the Iron Man mask and how well the armor hid his reactions. It allows him to look at Bruce and not show that he doesn't _see _him as _Bruce _anymore. He is now _Dr Banner_.

"Yeah?"

"Can we, um?" The other scientist hesitated, fidgeting under Iron Man's steely gaze. "Can we talk? It feels like it's been ... forever since we talked at all. Like, not even in the meetings and that ... That sucks, Tony. Because I kind of screwed up and I've been feeling guilty ever since I turned back from the Hulk and I couldn't stop thinking about how I practically _abandoned_ you after the whole Ultron fiasco because I _panicked_ because, you know, I've been managing to control the Hulk and stop him from getting out but then Maximoff fucked with my head and I was so scared, Tony. I was so scared because I didn't trust in my ability to stay calm so I ran away and I wasn't even sure if I was planning on coming back but then Brunhilda got me and took Hulk to Sakaar and I stayed there for two years until Thor came and the first thing _I_ was aware of was that I was in the remains of a Quinjet on an alien planet billions of miles away from home and the only things that were familiar were Thor and your clothes - by the way, you _really_ need to get looser clothes, Tony, because your pants are _tight_. How do you manage in them all day? - and I was clinging onto that little bit of normality-" It was at that point that Tony realized Bruce _was_ wearing a suit jacket that the older man had _no_ hope of affording, even in a dream and something warm and fond fluttered in his chest at his _friend_'s rambling, because _who can stay mad at Bruce_? "And then we went to Asgard and I had to play doctor for all those people who were in one way or another injured by Hela and all I could think was 'How would Tony deal with all these people?' And I just wanted to come back to the Tower and lock myself in your lab and maybe sleep and eat for a few days and get lost in your scientific ramblings that I sometimes have no hope of following and maybe just stay there and not think about the _two year blackout_ I've had to not panic about and not worry about Loki and his damn knives and aliens and and-"

At this point, Tony decided Bruce had had enough and withdrew his gauntlets to put two hands in Banner's shoulders and the man dove for a hug before Tony could register what was going on. He couldn't feel it through the armor, but Tony was sure the grip was bruising and yet he didn't mind, calmly putting his own arms around the other scientist. Affection surges through him as they just stand there and something in his heart finally softens and no longer feels like betrayal. They all make mistakes, he reminds himself. As long as they acknowledge them, account for them and set out to try and fix them, there is hope for things to get better. Bruce and he haven't been friends for nothing. And even if Bruce can't be that one friend to whom Tony can tell everything to, maybe he doesn't _have_ to be. It's a little selfish of Tony to even think of actually making another share his burden. He'd never asked of Rhodey. Not the whole thing. Same with Pepper and Happy and everyone else whom he now deems close to himself. Only JARVIS ... And maybe one day FRIDAY. She's still young. He still doesn't want her to know about some of the shit he's did and the things he regrets. And he has ... He _had_ Yinsen at one point. He has Harley, for different things. They share the burden with him. Bruce shares just a part. He's only human with his own shipload of trouble.

And Tony ... He's human, too. And for the first time, he has someone who is like him to not only share _his_ burden to but let Tony share their own. Doctor Stephen Strange was definitely a weird one. He wants to take the burden of the world from Tony's shoulders by putting it on his own and yet doesn't realize that he's letting Tony do the same in return. They're actually carrying it _together_. And isn't that just a novel experience. He thinks he might like it.

But there's another doctor clinging to him now - what _is_ up with him and brilliant doctors, anyway? - to think about so Tony let's his magic teacher fade from the forefront of his mind and focuses in on his science bro. "Brucie-bear, it's _allllright_. We _alllll_ make mistakes. It's good you admitted to them." He says, half joking, half dead serious. "Now, I do believe you are right. We have not had the chance to catch up." He steps away from the alter ego of the Hulk and looks him up and down. "We could go on a shopping trip. I swear to god, if one more of my genius friends wears some weird ass shit instead of decent clothing, I am going to burn all your closets down."

"Oh, do you mean Dr Strange? Yeah, that cape _is_ a little ... uncommon." Bruce tries diplomatically and Tony only rolls his eyes.

"One, it's the Cloak of Levitation. Two, no, I didn't mean the Cloak. It's awesome and a badass. Three, it's not _just_ Strange and his stupid monk drags that somehow both accent and conceal his body build. There's also Reed with his stretch spandex and Sue with his turning invisible spandex and Shuri with her Wanandan Princess wear, not that I have anything against traditional Wakandan clothing, it just looks ... uncommon outside of it. Then there's Selvig and his house robe that he wears in his freaking state of the art lab, fucking weirdo, and then there's Jane's bunny slippers that have _no place_ standing next to _any_ of that beautiful tech. Not to mention Lang likes to loiter around in the Ant Man suit and that Pym _dares_ enter a lab in that dreaded suit. If you're gonna dress up for the machines, at least dress to impress. And Betty needs to stop wearing that nerdy sweater I got her for her birthday. It's fucking freezing in her lab just so she could wear that shirt. There's some _sensitive instruments_ in that that, had they not been designed by me, would have suffered catastrophic failure-"

"Betty?" Tony blinks out of his _own_ rambling binge in time to realize just _what_ he had let slip and silently curses himself. Betty and Jane had made it clear that they didn't want to talk with Bruce and Thor respectively until they signed the Accords. And the two brilliant women had stumbled upon s breakthrough in Jane's project and, as far as he knew, didn't want to be disturbed until they either finish or go crazy with the lack of sleep and overdose of caffeine so he knew he had _fucked up_ and pretty bad, too. Even if it was one of their (ex?)boyfriends. "Tony? Where is Betty? And ... and did you just say Selvig? And Shuri? And Dr Foster? Are they at the Tower? Is _Betty_ at the Tower?"

"Crap," he mumbles under his breath and is already calculating how long it will take Jane and Betty to exact their revenge. He should have volunteered to go to Nivadellir.

"Since ... ?" Bruce starts awkwardly, not used to thinking about his first love and shifting in his place as he clumsily tried to ask about her like a schoolboy with a crush. A grown man should _not_ be so adorable. It was good to have his science bro back. "Since when is that a thing? Is she okay? How is she? What is she up to these days?"

"Um ... A couple of months, now? Well, for Jane and Selvig and their motley crew. Betty came a few weeks after Civil War and offered up all the dirt she had on her dick of a father. Testimonied against him in court." Tony replied, recalling his shock upon first seeing her on the doorstep of the Avengers Compound. She had lived with him there for the next couple of months before Tony started the move. She moved with him. They hadn't talked nearly as much as two people who are living in such close proximity could but she was a friend none the less. "She stayed with me ever since. Has her own apartment and lab at the Tower. Right next to yours, actually. She and Jane and Helen are all awesome friends. She travels with Helen from time to time. I think U is in love with her, so you may have some competition."

"Wait, Civil War? What Civil War? And why would she suddenly go to court when she'd been running away from it for so long? And why are all the others there, too, when the team is here? I mean, I _know_ you guys had some sort of falling out because of the Accords but Thor and I never did get the full story ... "

"Let me guess, Fury?" Bruce nodded and Tony feared his eyes will fall out with how hard he rolled them. "That explains it."

"Tony, what's going on?" Banner asked uncertainly, as though he really didn't want to hear the answer. He had good instincts. If this were to have happened just a couple of years ago, there would have been the problem of a Hulk on a rampage and the need for a new Harlem. Or Manhattan. Again. Or at least something of that scale. "What happened? I mean, it was just some stupid political disagreement, right? Just your and Steve's usual dance of who's the leader, right?"

"It's not that simple. Gosh, we really didn't have time to catch up, did we?"

"No," Bruce agrees hesitantly. Tony doesn't blame him for not being around, not really. He now stands as New Asgard's Official Human Relations Adviser and part of Thor's court. New Asgard had only finished _really_ settling in two weeks ago, when the last of the houses were built and the last of the families and people were moved into their new homes with what meager possessions they had managed to take with them before their home, the golden city, went _boom_. Thor had needed Bruce there as much as he had needed Loki. The blond king had at times looked like hell when Tony met him at UN or Accords meetings. It was good to know that Point Break had had a friend who saw him _only_ as a friend and not as a king at his side. Especially since Loki had had his own hands full between securing his own pardon, position and Accords contract and plotting ways to stop Thanos with Tony and Stephen.

"The Avengers broke up. Like, right down the middle."

"Broke up? What? Like a band? Like ... Like the Beatles?" Bruce asked incredulously, eyes wide and jaw on the floor.

"No, maybe more like The Police or The Eagles? Yeah, sounds about right. You know, you were right about us, Big Green." Right now, Bruce looked like he wanted to be anything but right. "We were a ticking time bomb. Always were and always will be, the original lineup. It only got worse over the years. Toxic. I didn't want to see it, you didn't want to see it, no one did, but that's how it was. How it _is_. We all did our own thing, rarely spending any time around each other outside of missions, or before or after missions despite all of you having floors at the Tower. We didn't get along. We pretended. Sometimes, we tried being genuine. Maybe at times we succeeded. But we never really trusted each other. And with Steve and me both wanting for the team to go in two different directions, and the aftermath of Ultron ... It was bound to happen. That one last straw that broke the camel's back. _My_ back."

"The Accords?" The other man guessed and Tony couldn't really stop the sharp, bitter bark of laughter that escaped him before he could repress it. Bruce looked downright scared now. "Tony, what broke up the Avengers?"

"Some would say it was the Accords, RAFT and Ross. Other's would say Zemo's tricks. There are even those who claim I did it."

"And the truth?" It was obvious he was trying not to react to the mention of his once hunter and tormentor. Tony would have usually tried to ease him into it. Today, he didn't. Call him petty, but he didn't.

"The Accords are an excuse. RAFT had been secret until the rouges were thrown in there." Bruce had flinched slightly at the word 'rouges'. Runaways. Like him. Again, Tony did nothing to coddle him. Those days were gone. He supported the Avengers Initiative and the Accords in whatever manner they needed but he no longer coddled anyone. Accountability and responsibility. That's what he stood for. Face your mistakes. Make them right as best as you can. He's done cleaning up other people's messes while coddling and shielding them from a righteously angry world. "Ross was a dick but he showed his true intentions only after Germany. Although it might be true that I broke up the Avengers. I simply couldn't stand for what Rogers had made them represent. That goes against everything _this_," he taps the Arc Reactor, his reminder to never ignore the consequences his actions can have, responsibility, accountability, his _legacy_, everything _Yinsen_ taught him. Everything he must never forget. "Represents. Everything I've stood for long before New York. After Ultron, I stepped back. Retired, even. Built the very Avengers Compound we are standing on, gave it to the others and left. A mistake on my part, since they took in Maximoff and she made a tragedy in Lagos not long before the Accords were publicly declared a _must_. People _feared_ us, Bruce. _We_ were the enemies now. Our actions killed people, destroyed homes and ruined lives every time the Avengers went out to 'avenge'. Stark Relief and Maria Stark Foundation did their best to resolve it all but they were loose cannons and I was soon contacted. King T'Chaka was nice enough to give me a heads up. We worked together until he was killed and I tried working with T'Challa, but he ultimately took Rogers' side when he learned it wasn't Barnes who killed his father. He took them in after Siberia-"

"Siberia? What happened in Siberia?" Bruce already had a fair bit of green in his eyes so Tony made a snap decision, calling for Happy. They didn't need an outbreak of a giant green rage monster in the Compound.

"I'll meet you at the Tower and then we'll talk."

Besides, the Tower had Hulk's panic room from which he can't escape. And they'll definitely need _it_ and the close proximity of the Hulkbuster armor.

Judging from Bruce's pale complexion, he understood that, too.


	28. Chapter 28

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

"FRIDAY, how is our green friend doing? He okay?" Asked Tony with a sight the next morning, stuck in his office for the day, doing SI work in Pepper's absence due to a last minute business trip in Japan. One of the companies that had been hesitating to employ one of their products had finally caved and the discussions of a partnership started almost immediately. Pepper had flown out at four in the morning and all but ordered Tony to take over for a few days. Which is how he found himself stuck behind his desk, signing paperwork and pestering his AIs for some form of distraction, including an update on Bruce's condition. Or rather, the Hulk's.

"The Hulk shows no sign of slowing down, Boss. He's still raging at the dummies we've provided him and seemingly complaining to Dr Ross. She seems to have it under control." Or as under control as the Hulk can ever be.

Stark sighed again, wondering how this had become his life in the first place. He and Bruce had a long, long talk after he and Betty had their unexpected reunion when Bruce got to the Tower. Whatever he and Romanoff had, it was all forgotten when Bruce saw Betty and accepted the resounding slap he received before being drawn into a tight embrace. Tony let them have their moment, situating himself in front of the Hulk's special 'panic' room with a cup of coffee, waiting for Bruce to come down and face the music. Unsurprisingly, Betty refused to be left out of this and so Tony found himself recounting every single event, from the Hulk's disappearance after Ultron to the moment Doctor Stephen Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme of Earth, entered his life in order to protect him from a rouge sorcerer gone mad. Bruce had managed to keep his shaking to a minimum but his skin and eyes were tinted green long before Germany was brought up and Siberia nearly had him roaring in rage, both he and the Hulk. Only Betty's hand in his stopped him.

However, as soon as Tony stopped talking, he all but sprinted in after taking off Tony's jacket and Hulked out right then and there. The jolly green giant raged and pounded on the glass and Tony and Betty had to watch. Hulk had roared at Tony to 'get Cap so Hulk can smash!' over and over again, snarling, growling, _begging_, but in the end settled for the dummies he usually got to let off some steam with a holographic projection of Rogers' and the others' faces over the practice dummies. He'd been at it since, occasionally asking Betty to get 'Tin Man' to see for himself that Tony was okay. Perhaps showing Bruce the reimplanted Arc Reactor hadn't been the best of his ideas, but Bruce had already been so close to snapping that Tony had shown him just to appease him, knowing both personalities of Bruce Manner would balk at the sight of it back in his chest.

Betty had stayed with him all night, working from Bruce's lab and waving off Jane's and Darcy's worried expressions every time the Hulk got extremely loud or violent in his rage. Tony visited her with coffee and breakfast that morning and they both estimated the Hulk will finally run out of steam some time after lunch before Tony had to start his CEO-for-the-day day. Now he was in his office, dealing with things he had gladly left to Pepper to deal with daily and occasionally asking his AIs on Banner's condition. He was a little surprised Loki had come in an hour ago to do an official checkup on him before the Trickster returned to New Asgard, apparently having some important business there to attend to.

Other than that, it was business as usual. He had a meeting early in the afternoon that he had to attend in Pepper's place and as the head of R&D and he had a stack of paperwork to go through until then. After that, he had to make a public appearance regarding the Avengers, something like a meet and greet for good publicity. An interview with Christine Everhart was bound to make this day either a little more bearable or a nightmare. Then he had a teleconference with the UN and the Accords and then a teleconference with Shuri regarding the shields. They have yet to make those adjustments that would stop vessels traveling at the speed of light from breaking through the barrier or the sensors that were supposed to monitor it. Everything else, thankfully, can wait until Pepper comes back.

So he works diligently, occasionally chatting with FRIDAY and checking on J's progress with the device-thumb-drive-thing that Gamora had given him that was being throughly scanned and the contents drawn out onto Tony's own computers so JARVIS and FRIDAY may start deciphering what it was that they were looking at. He had never been so glad to have JARVIS back. FRIDAY was awesome and he had quickly became attached to her, like with all of his other AIs, bots or otherwise, but she was still too young to deal with the complexity of the alien device Gamora had left for him. Not alone, at the very least, and KAREN, SARAH and JOCASTA were even less experienced than her. VERONICA might have been able to help but her job was to assist him with the Hulkbuster armor and monitor any threats to specifically his person from the orbit. JARVIS could handle it on his own and his other AIs did their jobs, watching over the people he had assigned them to. He was still thinking whether he should give Harley an AI but the kid would probably use it to hack into the Pentagon or something. That kid is too much like him. Between him an Peter, the world had another Tony Stark to worry about.

Tony couldn't help but smirk at that thought.

"Mr Stark, sir?" Came the voice of Pepper's secretary - and his secretary for the day - over the intercom from the desk, drawing him back to reality from whatever head-space he had just drifted off to. He tended to do that when he was 'in the zone' as Rhodey would put it, when he could work and a nuke could go off next to him and he wouldn't even notice. Ever since he had injected Extremis into himself, it had become a lot more easier to get into that 'zone', since he could constantly feel JARVIS and FRIDAY and - on a lesser note - his other AIs so he knew he was never alone and that he was as safe as he can be as Iron Man, Tony Stark and the guy who was plotting the failure of an intergalactic warlord's plans for the universe can be. The meditating sessions he could not bring himself to stop were also helping for his mental state, since they even allowed him to properly process all the information he sometimes gets when he connects with the Internet.

"Talk to me, Valerye," he answered, focusing on her and shutting off his connection to the Internet. It would be a distraction and he can always easily return to it after he sees to whatever business the poor woman has to inform him about. She was used to Pepper and not at all used to Tony Stark. He swears she squeaks every time he tells her he had something for her to do. Normally, he'd ask FRIDAY to forward whatever he needed to a department, but since it was _paper_ that had needed a signature, he needed someone with an actual body to do it. He'd send an Iron Man suit, but despite the weird things his employees have gotten used to over the years due to his quirks, he was pretty sure that the suit would be too much for some. He did not need panic, fangirling/boying, fainting or overly interested scientific intrigue to break loose, thank you. Pepper would kill him.

"Um, you have a visitor that says he's from Kamar-Taj and an acquaintance of a Dr Strange here to speak with you." The nervous woman continued and Tony stopped everything he was doing, frowning and opening his connection to the web to take a look at his schedule since he was pretty sure he had _no_ appointments with Masters of the Mystic Arts. Though they tended to call and then open a portal to wherever he was when they wanted to talk to him. Maybe Strange or Loki, even, had put in place something that prevented them from doing that? As for the call thing, now that he thought about it, only Stephen and Wong had his number. The other Masters knew they can come talk to him if they are in need of financing, repairs to the Sanctums, medical care or if they have trouble on their hands that they think someone else should know about. With Stephen off world and Wong stuck with the New York Sanctum and Loki not possessing any clear, official status among Earth's sorcerers, Tony was probably the best one to go to. "He says it's urgent."

That could also explain the lack of a call beforehand. "You sure he's from Kamar-Taj?"

"Well, he's definitely dressed like it and he kind of ... appeared from a circle of sparks. So I guess?" Valerye stuttered in an unsure voice and Tony sighed.

"Let him in." He went back to the paper he had to finish so he can focus on his guest without feeling guilty about neglecting the work Pepper would have done. Not that he was falling behind or anything. He _had_ run the company for two years on his own before he had transfered it to Pepper. She was a great CEO but she had learned the ropes from him. Not to mention that he had always been a fast reader and Extremis and some good sleep definitely made it easier. Honestly, despite the looming threat of Thanos on the horizon, Tony hadn't been healthier in _years_. Maybe even before Afghanistan.

"Anthony Edward Stark." A vaguely familiar voice said and Tony frowned at the paper in hand. Where had he heard it before? "It has finally come. The time for you to pay the bill that is your due."

That didn't sound ominous at all. "I'm sorry, did I forget to pay electricity or something? Because this Tower is run 100% by my own reactor. And it's clean energy, too, so I really don't know what bill I didn't pay. The water bill? This Tower and every other Stark property is 100% green."

"I'm not talking about the material payment, Stark." That had Tony looking up, the venom in this man's voice and he stiffened when he spotted green robes. Sorcerer's of Kamar-Taj didn't wear green robes. Crap. "The price for what you have been doing and for how long is high. And _the bill comes due_. Always."

Tony stood up slowly, not daring to activate Extremis because it would show in his eyes and that just might set the unstable man off. He hadn't sounded exactly sane the first, last and only time he had seen this man and there was no Stephen to protect him this time around. He had never been more glad that Wong had insisted on being blunt enough that Tony was almost forced into learning some magic. "I don't know what you think I am doing-"

"You are drawing on magical energy that is not yours to use." The man he presumed to be Mordo - he had, really, seen him only once and it was during battle. Dark skin and green robes wasn't enough to distinguish a person for sure - stated, a sickly green sort of magic gathered around his fingers. It looked nothing like the mandala-like rings that formed around Stephen's forearms when he's using the Time Stone like he had once shown Tony. It sent dread through the engineer and he hoped like nothing in the world that FRIDAY had contacted Loki or, well, _anyone_. "You have been doing this for many years. The Ancient One has foolishly allowed you to continue doing this. I am here to rectify that mistake."

"Okay, slow down, buddy," Tony tried to placate, rising his hands in a surrendering and placating motion in front of his chest. "Whatever energy I have is my own. I did some tests so I would know. It's woven deep into every one of my cells so if you were to try and extract it from me, you'd kill me."

"A shame, surely. But this travesty must be punished." Mordo said in a grave tony of voice and Tony didn't know if he should start panicking. He felt rather than saw the weapons in the office slide out of the walls and he wished that all of them had a silencer instead of just most. Because then they could fire and Mordo wouldn't know until it was too late. "That energy is not meant to be a human's. It should belong to the universe to be called upon by the people who will harness it for selfless reasons. To protect this reality! You cannot selfishly siphon that energy for yourself."

"I don't," Tony grunted, getting annoyed. "I didn't even know about it until you tried to kill me a few months ago! I'm not doing this consciously or on purpose. The energy is mine and has always been mine. If you take it, then I'm _dead_."

"And I am sure that it also works the other way around." Mordo smiled what he thought was a reassuring or apologetic or some shit like that smile but it only came out deranged as he shot the green spell at Tony with lightning speed. "Goodbye, Tony Stark. Your death will contribute to the return of the balance of the energies in the multiverse."

It was like in slow motion, the way the green, misty electricity like spell traveled towards him at a speed no human brain could comprehend. Two meters away and he could already feel it trying to leech that strange power that rested dormant within him unless he was practicing or meditating. But his brain wasn't normal anymore, had never really been to begin with. Extremis allowed him to analyze things ten times faster than an ordinary human being and he had FRIDAY, a supercomputer, also watching so he had her perception as well. Probably JARVIS' by now, too. It's thanks to their immediate calculations of how fast the attack was coming and how long it will take to reach him that allowed Tony to instantly form the shields he had perfected under Stephen's scrutinizing, perfectionist gaze, the blue mandala's matching the light of his Arc Reactor and illuminating his face. The perceived force the attack was also what had the armor forming around him even before the spell hit his shields. It was too strong for a human to hold up against and so, even though his shields protected him perfectly, he was sent flying backwards, towards his bulletproof windows, from the sheer force and momentum of the attack.

FRIDAY activated the weapons in the room, blasting the hell out at Mordo, who also formed a big shield, a sphere, to protect himself before lashing out with that strange ever morphing staff of his, destroying the weapons in the walls and ceilings and even in the floor.

JARVIS engulfed his back and head first in the armor a second before he hit the glass with enough force that would have smashed his skull to pieces or permanently broken his spine had he hit it without the armor there to protect said areas. As he flew out of the window, shields still holding off the attack that was pushing him further back and out of the window, the bracelet Stephen had given him started to glow and canceled out the attack, leaving him to fly through the broken glass as the rest of the suit rushed to cover him so he doesn't get cut or, you know, _fall to his death_. A few pieces still nicked him and drew some blood on his face and hands or ripped into his expensive suit before the fabric was covered by the nanobots. Still, even _that_ was mostly prevented by the glowing shields he still had out to protect himself. His chest and the vital organs within it were not even grazed, so he guessed everything was alright.

Then he started plummeting towards the concrete bellow, just for a few seconds before JARVIS caught him while his brain tried to battle the shock of the last few seconds for a few heartbeats and then Tony was back in control, piloting the suit back up to his busted office window, ignoring the spectators bellow and Vision coming out, through the glass, from bellow the terrace of Tony's floor. He had his repulsors ready even as he leveled out with the broken window and came face to face with one unimpressed sorcerer which was, okay, _rude_. That would have been all kinds of awesome if it were on a movie screen and was _even more awesome_ because it was real life. Because Tony was sure no one else would have been able to do that, thank you very much.

"So Strange has once again ignored my warnings and has even gone as far as to teach you magic." Mordo half observed, half sneered when Tony came up to his level, not at all intimidated by the high tech suit of armor that could, all on its own, probably conquer a continent. Tony was even more offended than before. "No matter. I am already correcting one Sorcerer Supreme's mistakes." He spun and twirled the staff before pointing it at Tony. "I guess I will just have to correct the mistakes of another as well."

"Good luck with that, Voldemort." Because, besides appearances, this guy definitely fit the bill far more than Stephen, despite Tony's or Johnny's relentless teasing. Stark decided not to give the rouge sorcerer another opportunity to attack first and maybe catch him off guard with the many spells he knew and Tony didn't, so he powered up Iron Man's repulsors and fired two powerful shots at the green robed man. But Mordo easily created another protective sphere around himself, which easily stopped the attacks.

_'J, fire up the voltage. We'll need more power.'_

_-Already on it, Sir.-_ The rays coming out of the repulsors became thicker, the sound stronger, but the shields held. _-If we use any more power, we'll decimate the entire floor, Sir.-_ Which would be all kinds of bad. Namely, there were too many people in the Tower. _-The Avengers are on their way.-_ JARVIS added, showing him Carol and Spider-man jumping out of windows on various floors, Spider-man using his web shooters to catch himself and slide down, Captain Marvel already glowing with power as she joined Vision in his descent down.

But Tony couldn't let them get involved in this. He didn't know how Mordo will react to them and he didn't want to see them get hurt or transported to some random dimension or something that would require Stephen to get them back. He was the new leader of the New Avengers. He couldn't let them get hurt because of him. Mordo was here for _him_.

_'Thank good I bugged Strange until he taught me that spell.'_ He had JARVIS activate the proton cannons even as he stopped firing with his repulsors, which left his hands free. He took a deep breath to get himself to focus and put his fingers into the right positions before he started weaving his arms in the air. He didn't have the easy precision and grace that years of practice allowed Stephen or Wong or any other sorcerer he had met during his study sessions at the Sanctum, but he was sure and his memory was sure as he made the gestures needed to form two circles of runes in the air, wedged in between two rings that resembled hollow mandalas. One ring was smaller, just around the size of Tony's chest, the rung of runes was maybe a centimeter bigger and the second mandala ring was bigger than it by a couple more centimeters. The spell glowed blue, just like every other spell Tony did, already thrumming with power as the three rings hovered parallel to him, maybe a foot or two away from his armored chest.

When he was sure that the spell held, Tony relaxed his hands out of the necessary position and instead took aim through the three circles and fired at Mordo. Only the smallest ring glowed brighter, which was a little disappointing but it amplified the strength behind the repulsor blast none the less and _easily_ broke through the shield that had been resisting his _proton cannons_. Even though it didn't reach the sorcerer himself, Mordo grunted in pain at the excretion he had had to put in to hold the spell before the shield broke. He was gasping for breath, a murderous look in his eyes as he regarded Tony. But Carol and Vision were already hovering at his side, Spider-man hanging just a little to the left and Logan, Dante and Daredevil were now at his back, blocking the entrance/exit to the office. Tony had to give it to Matt, the man could dress into his costume faster than in those silly five minutes cartoons of Superman.

"You're surrounded." Carol stated matter of factly, her eyes even starting to glow for intimidation effect. "Surrender and we will not use force."

"No," Mordo said, straightening himself up. "But _I_ will." And he started doing some complicated hand and arm movements, everyone tensing for whatever he was about to bring out, only for nothing more but sizzling sparks to appear in the air in front of him, much to the confusion of everyone present, _especially_ Mordo himself. He tried again and again, with a spell Tony recognized vaguely, probably something Stephen had once done, but still no results.

"I think you'll find that you won't." An all too familiar voice drawled and they all turned to look at none other than the Sorcerer Supreme himself, leaning casually against the wall of the office. When he had appeared, no one knew, but the Avengers _definitely_ found his presence comforting. Mordo, on the other hand ...

"_Strange_!" The rouge sorcerer spat. "What have you _done_!?" The former neurosurgeon watched his once friend and mentor with sad but determined eyes as he pushed off from the wall. The Cloak of Levitation, ever the drama queen, flared out behind him and rustled more than the breeze getting in through the broken windows could cause. Case and point, Vision's cape wasn't nearly as wiggly.

"My job." Stephen replied sternly, magic glowing around his fingers. Tony's scans indicated that, despite the magic being the same usual color Stephen's magic always was, the spell he was preparing to do was the same one Mordo had fired at him. Only this time, the spell seemed natural and not at all foreboding or malicious. Tony's hair on his arms and neck stood on end from tension and the power that radiated off of the spell, but he felt no fear or as if this was _wrong_. He watched warily as Mordo seemed to realize the same thing, that it was the same spell. That his bill had come due. "Karl Mordo, former practitioner of Kamar-Taj and Master of the Mystic Arts, as the Sorcerer Supreme of Earth, I hereby seal your power-"

"You can't do that!" Stark wanted to pity the man for the panic that he clearly heard in Mordo's voice, but he clearly remembered all the people this man had crippled, took away their miracle and their powers just because they found their will lacking to fight for the multiverse.

"_Silence_!" The usually calm doctor thundered and the magic in the air crackled with his raised voice. The atmosphere was throughly intimidating, even with the sunny day and the lack of ominously flashing gray skies. Mordo seemed to sense the power in the air and closed his mouth against anything that he could or would have said in his defense. No one dared make a single squeak in the face of Strange's scowl. "For the crimes you have committed against former apprentices of Kamar-Taj and my own student, magic will never flow through your body again."

As if that in itself was a command to the magic, the spell zapped from Stephen's fingers and struck Mordo in the chest. The dark skinned man grunted from the impact and took on steadying step backwards, but he did not look in pain and the spell did its job quickly, the misty electricity leaving Mordo's body through his back in the form of a caging orb that held hostage what Tony figured was Mordo's magic or whatever it was within a human body/mind/soul that permitted them to draw on dimensional energy and make magic. It skipped around Mordo and made a beeline for Strange, who took the ball and ignored the agonized expression Mordo sent his way. Scans of Mordo's person showed it wasn't from pain.

It was from, for the first time in many years, perceiving the world without the additional awareness that using magic brought. It was finally downing on him just what had been done.

Stephen turned to Tony - wasn't he supposed to be on some alien planet, one of the Nine Realms that used to fall under Asgard's sovereignty and protection, until nightfall? Not that Tony was _complaining_, not at all. He actually felt himself relaxing a little - and offered him a nod. "The Masters at Kamar-Taj can hold him until you and Pym make that quantum mirror prison you've been talking about. This is, unfortunately, not the first time Kamar-Taj has had to imprison one of our own."

"Yeah, sure. I'll contact the Accords and I'll deal with the press." And the UN. And the rouges, once they hear about it. He'll have to find a way to take the heat off of Kamar-Taj and its sorcerers. And he'll have to prevent anyone from dreaming up another RAFT.

Stephen seemed to get that a smiled a thankful smile at him before wrapping a magical, sizzling whip around Mordo and dragging him through the portal. Which left Tony to deal with the mess and the cleanup and their curious, confused teammates.

"Um, Mr Stark?" An unsure Peter called hesitantly, even rising his hand as though he was in school. "Since when can you do magic?" Logan, Dante and Matt at least seemed surprised by this but Vision and Carol were only curious, which meant they had seen.

He sighed and motioned for them to gather in his penthouse. "Let's talk."

Oh boy.


	29. Chapter 29

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

"Stark's obviously way out of his depth." Wanda commented with satisfaction as the rouges watched the news feed that night, seeing Tony flung out of his own office window over and over again as the news reporter droned on and on about the event. Some rouge sorcerer had snuck into the Avengers - no, the _Stark_, Clint wasn't as delusional as people seemed to think, thank fuck - Tower and had tried to kill Stark for his own agenda, which he refused to share with his interrogators as of yet. Clint watched as his fellow rouges (except Scott, he had moved out and right into Stark Tower since he had proven himself) - and yes, he _is_ aware enough to realize they needed a wakeup call if they still refused to acknowledge public opinion - nodded in agreement but stayed quiet, huddled up in the ventilation systems still adjusted to fit him if he wished to hide in here. Stark had made the same adjustments in the Tower once, too, but the vents were now returned to normal, all economic, stylish and smooth. Not at all meant for crazy archer assassins to crawl around in.

Clint still couldn't believe just how much they had missed of what Stark had done to accommodate them, to which lengths he had changed his lifestyle so they would feel comfortable, and how they had all ended up acting as entitled dicks to him when he had needed their support the most.

Clint would have probably still been blind to it had Laura not insisted he come by the Tower after the whole mess with that fight in the Compound was cleared. He had been hesitant to do so, afraid that wizard dude would accost him should he step foot in Stark's personal space, but Laura had insisted and so Clint had come, with an official visitor's card and all. She had met him in the foyer and had led him to what used to be his floor in the Tower. Laura and his kids lived there now, everything provided for them, even schooling, along with Scott's family and rooms for Hope and Dr Pym. He would have been angry that his archery range was dismantled, but he felt shame when Laura informed him it was moved to the official training floor. Moved, almost as though it was just a part of a modifying doll house, not a tower full of people. When he saw it, he swears it was just like that. Tony hadn't changed a thing, besides maybe making it more challenging.

There was even a bow, updated and definitely Stark-made - he could tell even from a distance just by _looking_ at it - waiting, as though for his return.

Clint Barton couldn't have felt guiltier, not when he saw Cooper struggling with a smaller bow. Determined to fill in his father's gap in Tony's trust circle, Laura had informed him. Determined to repay the man who went so far out of his way that he took in the families of two men who had fought against him without even reading the damn Accords or listening to the changes he was planning to make.

The tour had continued and Clint saw how each of the floors was modified for its new purposes. Bruce's floor now housed his first sweetheart, Betty Ross, her own lab, Bruce's lab and his quarters, the Hulk's panic room and Dr Cho and her own lab. Natasha's floor was completely dismantled and transformed into the living space for the Defenders, that group of superpowered individuals from Hell's Kitchen, completely and utterly hack-proofed so their identities could remain a secret. Thor's floor contained, to his surprise, Dr Selvig and Dr Jane Foster, as well as that Darcy Lewis girl and some dude Clint had never seen, the two scientists' labs, Thor's old room, an entertainment and study centers and a kitchen, as if the four (five, if Thor ever returned) were isolated from the rest of the Tower. Laura even told him Tony had built in rooms for Loki, that Valkyrie and Heimdall, should they ever need a safe house.

Cap's former floor, reinforced so he can practice with his shield and eventually bring in Bucky - how long had Stark known about the Winter Soldier? - was now the living space for half a dozen mutant kids and Wolverine, as well as two other kids whom Laura told him were Inhumans. The floor was reserved especially for mutants and Inhumans to stay should they have several days of business to attend to so they don't have to travel back and forth or pay for a hotel room. It had no traces that two men out of time would have lived there. In fact, the only thing about the floor that suggested a supersoldier would have lived there was the reinforced walls. There was almost a poetic sort of irony to it. Stark was always looking towards to future. It made sense that he would turn something once meant for the past into something to be utilized for the future. Steve was definitely a thing of the past while mutants have always, _always_ been viewed as the future of mankind. Maybe Inhumans fall into that category as well, he didn't know.

Stark really knew how to make a statement. Clint was both impressed and sad to realize how much he missed the man.

The few empty floors that used to be, well, empty, beneath the Avengers floors and the R&D floors, were no longer empty. They were meant to house more mutants and Inhumans or royalty of Wakanda and even the Fantastic Four and those wizards Stark was now associating with, despite the last two having their own residences elsewhere. Friends and family of the others were also always welcome to pick an apartment and stay for as long as they wish, which is how Spider-man's aunt and the doctor Natasha had tricked into coming had ended up living there, as well as a few other friends and colleagues of the Accords approved heroes ended up there, like Scott's and Spider-man's friends. There was a common gym floor, something a thousand times better than what was currently in the Compound, meant for every Avenger to be able to practice their skills. They all gravitated towards Stark's floor when they wanted to eat, watch movies or TV shows and series, play video games or board games or just talk and enjoy some company, which had apparently at first confused Stark, which brought the memory of just how rarely the original Avengers spent time together. They weren't at the Tower often, but even when they were, they tended to stick more to themselves than gravitate towards each other.

It was the opposite of that now and Stark was _flourishing_ in the good, healthy environment he had unknowingly created for them all.

His wife had refused to show him Stark's floor, saying he didn't deserve to invade the peace the engineer had created there. It had stung, but Barton had accepted it. That didn't stop Laura from showing him pictures. Stark shared his floor with his brain children, as they all jokingly referred to Vision, Stark's bots and AIs - Clint had nearly gotten a mental whiplash when he heard JARVIS speak over the speakers - and the two boys that looked at Stark with hero-worship obvious even through the picture. Pepper, Happy Hogan, Rhodes and Captain Marvel all had rooms on his floor, too, since Rhodey was practically family to the man and Carol had became family when she and Rhodey started 'going steady' as Cap would put it. Before that, she'd been on Cap's old floor, too. She still has a room there, should she and Rhodey ever want some space. As always, Tony always planned for the future and was always, _always_ ready.

Another interesting addition to Stark's floor was a room for the wizard that had come to his rescue. Doctor Strange and Tony were apparently the best of pals and even though the magic man didn't stay over at the Tower often, since he can portal himself out whenever he needs to go home, he had a room for himself should he ever choose to stay.

The Tower had never been so full, so homey and so filled with life as it was now and Clint realized it could have _always_ been like that. Stark had always put in the effort but none of them had even acknowledged it, let alone appreciated or reciprocated it. And watching Laura as she walked through the halls, more relaxed than she could have ever been on their little farm, Clint had felt a pang in his chest as he realized he wanted to be a part of it, too. It hadn't always been this tense between him and Stark. They used to be buddies, playing pranks on others but never on each other for fear of a prank war erupting in a tower with a man with 'breathtaking anger management issues' and a snappy Captain America. Things had changed after Ultron and Clint, for the longest time, couldn't put his finger on exactly _when_. Then he had realized he had never really attempted to take the offered hand Stark had been extending for years until Stark was no longer extending it.

Not only that, but he had stood by as Thor strangled the man when he was out of his suit, his only defense, and he had allowed a mind controller to come into the team even while he still called for Loki's blood because of what the Trickster god had done to him pre New York. No wonder Tony called them all hypocrites.

Clint had been forced to open his eyes and see that Stark was right. He had needed time to think things over, but he had asked for a copy of the Accords of Laura before he left the Tower. His wife, his beautiful, underappreciated, brilliant, lovely, _amazing_ wife, had only finally _smiled_ at him as she gave him a prepared copy and, with a squeeze to his bicep, had turned around and walked away. Clint had contacted their liaison, who had been _excited_ to get him a lawyer and Clint had sat through several sessions with the professional looking woman as she explained to him _everything_, about both the original Accords and the revised Accords _Stark_ had made all by himself, just to endure people like Ross can never misuse them again. Clint still hadn't signed but had assured the lawyer he will think about it carefully and the woman had nodded in thanks and understanding.

He was still debating over retirement or active duty but he knew his decision regarding the contract itself was already made. He just wasn't sure whether he should mention it around a certain Sokovian ex HYDRA agent. Stark was right - wasn't he always? Sure damn seemed like it, especially these days - about Wanda. She was no victim, despite the death of her brother. Had Ultron not planned to wipe out all the life on planet Earth, she would have never stepped up to fight with them. Pietro was the one with the truly noble heart, as had been proven when he had ran in front of the bullets meant for those civilians. But he had went where Wanda went because they only had each other. _His_ pain was used, taken advantage of. Wanda had only wanted revenge. Wanda had had hundreds of victims while she still only _practiced_ her powers. Clint didn't want to tell them that he was signing the Accords only for Wanda to control his mind and change his opinion. He was _this_ close to going back to his family and he'll be _damned_ if he lets the little witch stand in his way.

_'I should probably beg on my knees in front of Stark so he would arrange for that wizard friend of his to check my mind. I don't know what's my own thoughts anymore.'_ He watched wearily as Wanda made some more snide comments about Tony and bit his tongue from reminding her just _who_ it was that had secured her a visa - as temporary as it had been - and had made sure she didn't end up in some hole in the dirt or as a lab experiment. Or the fact that no one had ever set their filthy hands on Pietro's body. Tony had done too much for that brat for her to still be advocating hate towards him.

"He should just step aside and let the _real_ heroes do their jobs instead of messing it all up." Maximoff sneered at the TV, where there was a replay of Tony's conference with the press regarding the man who had tried to kill him. "He's nothing without his armor. Anyone can pick up a weapon and shoot. He's useless."

That struck a cord that Clint had never thought even existed. "Is that so?" He asked in a drawl he knew had Nat instantly alert but Clint was _tired_ of worrying about what these idiots thought. Cap may advertise Avengers as a family, but they were nothing but broken and damaged people gathered in one place _pretending_ to be a family. _Stark_ had made a family. The Tower was a _home_. _Clint's_ real family was at that Tower and he longed for nothing more than to hold his wife, hug his kids and make up for _everything_ he had messed up. Even if _he_ wasn't needed on the New Avengers, he can still help train the new generation of heroes. He can still correct his son's technique so _he_ can be a part of that new generation. Kids adored and looked up to Stark. Even his own kids. He wanted to have at least the smallest bit of that respect directed at him.

"Of course. It's just point and shoot. Anyone can do that. It's not like what Cap or Bucky do. Or what _I_ can do. Anyone can pilot the suit. Rhodes proved that." Clint found it interesting how Natasha and Sam didn't realize at all that she had called them practically as useless as 'Stark' - that man was anything _but _useless, armor or no armor.

"Well, I guess that applies to me as well, huh." Clint sneered at _her_ and jumped out of the vents. "After all, I'm just an archer. Without my bow, I can't do _anything_. Unlike Stark. Only an _idiot_ would say Stark is nothing without his suit."

"What?" She hissed dangerously while the other rouges watched them with incredulous expressions on their faces. Clint pitied them as much as he was disgusted with them or weary of them. He wondered if this was what Stark felt every time he had to talk to them and he swore to buy that man every cheeseburger, donut and shawarma sandwich he can afford to _try_ and start making up to him for how big of an asshole he had been to him.

"That man packs more destructive power per pound than a nuke. The suit he had made himself. Take it off and he's still Iron Man. He'll just make another. Tony Stark _is_ the dangerous, powerful side of that coin. Anyone who thinks otherwise _deserves_ to meet the Ten Rings in whatever hell Stark sent them to." With that, Barton turned away, swiftly walking out of the room. "Since I am as useless as Stark because _anyone_ can pick up a bow and learn to shoot, I guess I'll just let you _special_ people to it. Don't want my _uselessness_ to rub off on you."

"That's not what she meant, Clint." Natasha, seeming to sense where this will end, tried to do damage control. Clint wanted to sneer at her, too. They've been working for far too long for him not to recognize her fake placating tone and if she thinks she can work him around, then he's greatly insulted because she obviously believes he's stupid. And yes, he _is_ greatly idiotic regarding how much he had misjudged Tony and Wanda, but he's not really _that_ stupid to fall for the Black Widow's tricks.

Who does she think he is? _He had brought her in_.

"Oh, I think I know exactly what she meant, Widow. No need to clarify for my sake."

"Clint? Is something the matter?" God, had Cap always been this oblivious? Or this commanding of everyone's agreement with his version of the story? How had none of them ever noticed that a _man from the past_ who has _no idea_ of how to deal with this brave new world was trying to dictate their opinions? Had Stark noticed and gotten sick of it? Probably. He is a genius and damn hell more perceptive than Natasha ever gave him credit for in her evaluation of his character. Or any of them, for that matter. Had they all just read what she had written and decided that's all they needed to know? Coulson _respected _the guy. That says a lot about what kind of person he is.

Clint felt like such a dick, especially since he knew if he asked Tony for forgiveness, the man would give it to him in a heart beat. They didn't deserve his mercy. He should have used all of his considerable power to smite them. Clint had no doubt that Stark had known where they were from the start. Had they seriously thought they could win against the man who had tore his company down from the foundations and built it up into an empire the likes of which no other company has ever seen all on his own? The man who had been tortured and strapped to a car battery when kidnapped by terrorists but had managed to escape in a fashion no other person would have thought possible? The man who had willingly flown a nuke into space for the sake of the world? Who had been under a falling city just to make sure the city-sized meteor didn't wipe out the life on Earth, risking his life and surviving the odds?

_'How delusional are we, to think Stark couldn't have just disintegrated us off the face of the Earth if he had wanted to? That armor was a conquering force on its own!'_ Just showed how much of a better man Stark was than they had ever given him the credit for. Clint took a great sigh and turned around so he was walking with his back facing away from the rouge Avengers, knowing he can't trust them anymore. _'Thank god for Stark making all of our rooms little safe havens that not even the Hulk can break through.'_ He thought as he faced Rogers. "Nothing, Cap. Just tired. This isn't helping," he indicated in the vague direction of the TV and the complaining that they were doing against man who had offered his home to them and they had betrayed them for his kindness.

Steve nodded as though in understanding but Natasha didn't look convinced. Whatever, he was sick of all of this shit. He just wanted to go back to his family, so he left the room as fast as he can, all but _running _to his room. Who knew when Wanda might decide a little mind-rape was in order. He closed and locked the door behind him, initiating the panic mode of the room so that no one can come in, not even Maximoff's powers - once again, bless Stark and his brilliant mind for thinking of that.

He picked up his copy of the Accords and the pen that had been waiting beside the papers while also taking out his phone and dialing the best number he knew that would be ideal for this momentous occasion.

He picked up on the second ring, the background noises of his workshop reaching across the line and Clint suddenly relaxed, as though his return journey was finally reaching the end. Like home was finally in sight.

"Stark speaking."

"Tony," he paused, letting the man recognize the voice if he hadn't already known who was calling, affording himself the needed moment to finish his signature. The sounds of Stark's work stopped except for what must have been Dum-E's inquisitive beeping towards his creator.

"Legolas." Stark greeted back and Clint let out a relieved laugh. He looked down at the papers and almost let out a sob, too, because it definitely felt worth it, losing the old Avengers for the future Stark was building one step at a time.

"I think we should talk."


	30. Chapter 30

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

"So you're going back with Reindeer Games to the place where Thor found you like a gladiator, because _why_? Please explain it to me again." Bruce sighed as he regarded Tony while packing a few things he might need during his unexpected trip to Sakaar. He could understand Tony's befuddlement but Bruce really had to get away from all the people both he and Hulk wanted to pummel into the ground. The sooner the better. He already feels himself fraying at the edges.

"The Grandmaster invited Loki over once he heard about Asgard's fall and where New Asgard was stationed, saying he wanted to offer a sort of galactic alliance of something between us, and yes, that does include Earth." Bruce explained, closing his duffel bag. "Since he can't really be trusted, Heimdall, Brunhilda and I are accompanying him. Since Thor's still away and we don't know when the hell he'll come back, we're going on our own, but I think between three Asgardians and Hulk, we will be fine. Besides, Heimdall can always just zap us back here with the Bifrost if it comes to that."

Tony grunted and picked up one of the twenty identical gadgets lying innocently on his workstation and threw it at Bruce. Banner fumbled with it as he tried to catch it and get a good grip while Tony explained. "Before he does that, press that little button and say your name into it. It's so that the Bifrost's energy doesn't disrupt the workings of the shields I told you about."

"What is this, exactly?" Bruce asked, studying the small device. It was smaller than an old Nokia phone but was also sturdier than even that seemingly indestructible device was. "And why do you have so many of them, anyway?"

"It's like a key that will open up the shields long enough for you to zap through." The engineer explained. "The shields are now updated to stop light-speed travel, magic entrances and attacks and even the Bifrost, to an extent. If Heimdall were to try and zap someone in, the shields would break the Bifrost's energy from reaching Earth and whoever was unlucky enough to have been in it would be left to either float in the edge between our atmosphere and space or would be pulled by gravity down towards Earth like a meteorite. But the energy of the Bifrost sometimes exceeds what our current servers can handle and it ends up with the shields locking in place for days on end. We tested it and it's a very annoying bug that Jane, Reed, Shuri and I are trying to get around but we can't as of yet."

"That's still impressive, though."

Tony shrugged, as if this wasn't one of the greatest engineering achievements of the present. A planet-wide shield? And he thinks it's nothing special? _'Then again,'_ Bruce muses, fiddling with his device. _'He always strives for more. I guess that's why the world keeps turning and changing.'_

"As for the others, it's _for _the others." The Hulk's alter ego frowned in askance at the other genius, who only shrugs again. "Thor, Loki and Heimdall. Daredevil, Reed, Charles, Magneto and Black Bolt. Shuri and T'Challa. Rhodey, Stephen and Wong. Clint and Scott. Rocket and Quill. Rogers and Fury. That one's yours, so be sure to use it wisely."

"Not one for yourself?" He didn't ask 'Why Rogers?' It was obviously an attempt to placate the rouges into not doing anything stupid. He could probably disable their's at will.

(He has _no _idea how on point he is there.)

Stark just shrugged again, much to Bruce's annoyance. "I don't need it." Bruce made an inquisitive noise in the back of his throat but Tony didn't elaborate. He sighed in exasperation but knew he had no right to push. They were still on very thin ice, even though Tony seemed to have forgiven him everything. Bruce felt like he was on thin ice. He had a lot of making up to do. "Anyway, keep a good eye on it and make sure Heimdall and Loki do the same. Those things are _important_." Brown eyes bore intensely into his own and Bruce fought down the urge to squirm. "Don't go losing them or letting someone else take them. It's a key, alright? You don't go losing keys or letting them get stolen. You got me?"

"Why do I get a feeling these things do a lot more than just open up the shields for passage?" The device suddenly felt ten times heavier in his hand, even without an answer. It gained even more weight when he realized how much Tony was probably entrusting him with. He didn't deserve such trust when he had betrayed it before, on more than one occasion.

"Because you're a smart boy, Brucie-bear." Tony said with a sharp grin that made Bruce tighten his grip on the device. The other man saw this and nodded in approval. "So, how long will you be staying and why do you think this Grandmaster suddenly wants to make alliances?"

"Well, for the first one, I don't know but we'll try not to stay away too long. As for your second question, it might have something to do with the fact that Sakaar is an artificial trash planet created by the Grandmaster, and is surrounded by numerous wormholes that deposit space waste. Surrounded by cosmic gateways, Sakaar lives on the edge of the known and unknown. Unfortunately, those wormholes go to all far reaches of space, so Loki insists we go and ensure an alliance so that Thanos can't just go there and pop up in our solar system without us ever noticing until he's practically knocking on our door. The Grandmaster, though, seems to need help in reigning the people who have been rebelling ever since we escaped. He's managed to regain the power over Sakaar but he wants to make alliances that will make people feel safe, or so Loki theorizes."

"We'll, he's probably not wrong." Iron Man muses to himself. "And Stephen told me about Sakaar. It's probably for the best that we keep those portals out of Thanos' reach. But why Loki? Shouldn't he be asking an alliance with Thor instead his stab-happy brother?"

Bruce shrugged. it had occurred to him as well that it was a little odd, but he figured he already knew the answer. He had been there to see the Grandmaster's distaste for Thor. "Probably because he likes Loki and isn't very fond of Thor."

"That's gotta be a first."

"And Thor will probably try to kill him for what he had done to his hair." Tony winces at that in sympathy and Bruce chuckles. "Anyway, Loki and the Grandmaster seem to have hi it off before Thor arrived on Sakaar, so they are on pretty ... amendable terms, since I doubt friendly is the right word."

"But why ask now? Why not when New Asgard was first formed?" Another thing that had occurred to Bruce. It was as though Tony was his suspicions personified, voicing all of his doubts that he had kept to himself.

"Maybe he knew Thor wouldn't be able to come and took the opportunity to avoid him since I doubt Thor would have let Loki go without him otherwise." Bruce guessed but for some reason, Tony didn't look all that convinced. He said nothing, though, since Bruce's communicator beeped that they were ready to go and that he should meet them on the rooftop. Tony followed him up to see them off, but he was unusually silent. It was then that Bruce realized just how much his friend had changed in the time he had been away. A year and a half since the Civil War and half a year since Ultron have changed Tony almost drastically. And yet all the important things that made him Tony stayed the same. But he was standing up for himself for once where (New) SHIELD and the old Avengers were concerned. It was probably the best thing he had done for himself in a long while.

Loki, Heimdall and Brunhilda were waiting for him on the rooftop and didn't look displeased or surprised that Tony had followed. They nodded to the engineer in greeting and he gave them a wave in return. Bruce desperately wanted to ask Tony to just _say_ something like he had when Thor, Strange and the Guardians were leaving, but he didn't know what he exactly expected or wanted to hear. What _was_ he supposed to say?

"Don't go getting lost in smashing things and forgetting about little ol' Earth, Green Bean. Or I will drag you back myself. Meanwhile, I'll science Betty to my side. I'm sure there is so much beautiful science we can make together." But it would seem Tony _always_ knew what to say with that customary smirk of his and all the tension ran out of Bruce's body like a popped balloon. Not only had Tony told him he was welcome back but he had also insinuated that he'll _come_ for him if he needs him. And the fact that he'll take care of Betty ...

"Thanks, Tony." He said as sincerely as he could manage because he doubted words alone could ever make up for all the things he owed this man. Which is why Bruce surprised Tony with a tight hug and enjoyed the way the engineer awkwardly patted him on the back as he returned it. He stepped away and Tony nodded to him before looking at the three Asgardians.

"That goes for you, too, Reindeer Games. Point Break will agree with me." Loki huffed but there was an amused smirk playing around his lips. Bruce wondered if the universe should be worried these two have become friends. He figures Doctor Strange will keep them in line. He _hopes_ Doctor Strange will keep them in line. "Brunhilda, Valkyrie of my life, you better come back to taste this sweet new vodka I got, just for you. It cost me a fortune so you better not ditch me with it. It's too toxic for my liver."

"Whatever you say, lightweight." The Valkyrie in question smirked and Tony only stuck out his tongue at her. He and Heimdall only exchanged a silent nod that seemed to hold an entire conversation before the big Asgardian allowed a small smile and beckoned Bruce over. Banner hesitated for the briefest of seconds before nodding at Tony one last time and walking over to join the group. He gave Loki and Heimdall the devices Tony had made and they took them without question, as though they already knew what it was. They probably did, another testimony to just how much things had changed. Bruce took a deep breath as Heimdall started gathering dark magic to summon the Bifrost, looking at the solitary figure of his best friend until the rainbow bridge was too bright for him to see and they were gone from Earth.

The trip was short but rough on Bruce's stomach. At least he didn't make a fool of himself and barf up his breakfast. Small mercies, he guessed. At first glance, Sakaar looked just like when they left it, wormholes all over the sky, the Devil's Anus stealing all the attention. The air was still stinky and there were tons upon tons of discarded trash everywhere. Bruce wondered if the Quinjet was still where he and Thor last saw it, making him subconsciously pull Tony's jacket closer to himself. He swears the thing had become some sort of security blanket for him and he no longer had the same pride he once had to be ashamed of it. Tony's cologne somehow clung to the expensive piece of clothing despite how many times Bruce had washed it already and the seams were still in perfect shape. Only the best for Tony Stark. Bruce was glad because his sewing skills sucked.

So Sakaar looked as if business like normal was going down but there was a strange feeling in the atmosphere. Maybe it was his own paranoia or the Hulk talking, but whatever little peace Tony's teasing had managed to instill in him evaporated and he tensed in an instant. Something didn't feel right. He could tell the exact moment Brunhilda felt it but with the way Loki was already way past tense, Bruce would guess that his magic had probably alerted him to this ... _wrongness_ the second they got here. Sure, Sakaar had never been normal, since nothing made sense on the garbage made planet, not even the flow of time or the stretch of space, but this felt like a different kind of _Wrong_. Yes, Bruce believed the capital W was indeed needed. But everything _looked_ normal. Everything _worked_ like normal, or as normal as it can be on Sakaar. Hulk confirmed it from inside of him and Brunhilda seemed to also be struggling to figure out just _what_ was wrong.

It was, predictably, the all-seeing Heimdall who noticed first. He jumped in front of them and raised his big longsword, deflecting just enough power from a purple beam of energy to not get them killed but unable to stand his ground against the brunt force the attack carried, sending him backwards and crashing into the other two Asgardians and Bruce himself. Loki reacted the fastest, phasing two larger daggers than Bruce was accustomed to seeing on him and stabbing them in the soil to stop his roll, staying crouched low to the ground, green eyes flicking, searching for the attacker. Brunhilda reacted second, grabbing Bruce and tucking him in against her sturdier Asgardian body so as not to squash any of Bruce's very human, very fragile organs as they crashed into a pile of junk. Said junk then toppled and buried them underneath and Bruce was sure he would be dead right now had Brunhilda not caught him because, not a second later, Heimdall crashed into the pile, crushing the two within with the force of his impact.

Bruce's heart was racing, his pupils dilating, adrenaline clouding every thought, bringing every sense into sharp focus but he refrained from letting Hulk get out. In the cramped space, such a transformation was bound to crush Brunhilda and that would be an especially dickish dick move, considering she had taken the brunt of both hits. Hulk would just have to wait until they could crawl out of here.

00000

On the outside of the trash pile that three of his companions had ended up in, Loki was struggling with himself whether he should just try running or help Heimdall get back up to his feet. Heimdall was the oldest, strongest and most experienced fighter they had, the green best can argue all he wants. Heimdall had been protecting Asgard _eons_ before that thing was even _thought_ of as a possibility on Midgard. Had it not been for him, that blast would have probably severed some limbs if not outright taken their lives. Heimdall was their best option, but even from where he was crouching, Loki could see that there would be no help coming from him. That blast had taken out a good chunk out of Heimdall's godly self. Even Asgardians had their limits. They were gods only as much as their will allowed them and, quite frankly, Loki didn't want to contemplate just how many horrible things Heimdall had seen in his life for him to have a will to continue living at all. How miserable his life must have been.

What he must have seen to disregard his own safety so callously as to jump in front of the attack that had done this to him even _with_ his powerful sword and his mastery of the dark magic.

Not for the first time since he saw the first Infinity Stone, Loki felt dread and fear the likes of which nothing else could compare to.

"Hear me and rejoice." A vaguely familiar voice started and Loki froze, watching in horror as a red wave of energy seemed to slowly wipe away Sakaar's skies and weird landscapes around them, the seemingly normal and peaceful day being replaced by burning skies, flaming city and junkyard, corpses littering every direction green eyes looked in. Dead. That's what his magic was so constipated about. _Dead_. Half of the immense population of Sakaar was _dead_ and Loki never so acutely felt the weight of the Tesseract in his pocket dimension, even though just the notion of it should be impossible. No. No no no no! How could he have _let this happen_!? How had he been so _foolish_ as to be _tricked_!? He was the Trickster god, Loki the god of mischief! He had become reckless, so assured by the safety Stark's plans had ensured that he had forgotten _Sakaar had no such defenses_! Sakaar had no Stark. " ... by the Great Titan." Loki toned in again to Ebony Maw's customary speech and he felt his jaw tighten.

Loki was very in tune with the energies that flowed the universe due to his magic. This? This was _not_ balance!

"I know what it's like to lose." Loki froze anew at that voice, coming from beyond the rest of the Black Order. The so called Children of Thanos parted to make way for the Titan himself, Infinity Gauntlet gleaming on his left hand and wrist, the red shine of the Reality Stone fading away now that the deception of Sakaar's true state no longer held any significance. The Power Stone, its purple light still gleaming from the previous attack, sent ice through Loki's veins and no, that was not a pun or a joke to his heritage. "To feel so desperately that you're right," Thanos said as he, in all his magnificent purple, scarred, wrinkly, muscular glory came to stand in front of the now standing Asgardian prince. "Yet to fail, nonetheless. It's frightening. Turns the knees into jelly."

Loki suddenly found his knees unable to support him, sending him to the ground. The Reality Stone shone ominously, mocking him for forcing him to _kneel_. His magic could not counter it. He had centuries of practice but the powers of Infinity Stones were above whatever spell he could have learned to protect himself. He was at Thanos' mercy. Or lack, thereof.

"But I ask you," the Mad Titan was still talking as he looked down at the god. "To what end?" He sounded as though he were a disappointed parent speaking to an unreasonable child. "Dread it. Run from it. Destiny arrives all the same. And now it's here ... Or should I say, _I_ am."

"You talk too much," Loki found some of his brother's foolish bravery seeping into his voice, even if he did not feel any of it. He would give anything to have stubborn, reckless Thor by his side right about now. But he reconsidered as the Power Stone lit up and the Gauntlet was pointed at his face. Loki had died ... multiple times, or so people thought. But he _had_ experienced what death felt like and he held no fear for it.

"The Tesseract," Thanos demanded and Loki could easily smile up at him and say "I don't have it," because Thanos was torturing _him_ and not _Thor_. Thor, who had loved Loki regardless of his sins and transgressions. Thor, who was the hope of Asgard and whom Loki never admitted to loving in turn. Had he stayed with his real family, he would have never found a greater brother. Loki did not care for the rest of the universe. He was a selfish man at heart. He only wanted _Thor_ to survive. So if Thanos kills him, all for the better because not even the Sorcerer Supreme can reach into Loki's personal pocket dimension to fetch the Tesseract. Only Loki could. And without the Mind Stone, Thanos can't force him, either.

"The _Tesseract_," Thanos repeated after he let up but Loki just gave him Stark's customary smirk and wondered if the Man of Iron would be proud of it. He was in too much pain to do any better but it was effective enough, as it seemed to annoy Thanos. Then dread filled Loki as the purple giant pointed towards the pile that contained his companions. "Or your friends' heads. I presume you have a preference."

The Trickster steeled himself and hoped Thor will be able to forgive him. The fate of ... _everything_ depended on it, no matter how selfish Loki's own reason to fight was. "Oh, I do. Kill away." That seemed to stun Thanos for a second before he followed through with the plan, blasting all three of them with a milder version of the previous attack, not meant to disintegrate but meant to cause pain and screaming. Screaming of the Valkyrie and Heimdall. Loki thought he heard a sound he had never imagined to bring him comfort.

A familiar grunt of a waking up green rage monster.

"Alright, stop!" He called out and Thanos stopped his assault, the Power Stone still gleaming in preparation to be used should Thanos deem it necessary. He took a deep breath and summoned the Tesseract, ignoring Heimdall's grunts not to do it. "I assure you, my friend, that the sun will shine upon us all again." He tried to reassure Heimdall, doubting he will get out of this alive - he had failed Thanos in New York. You do not fail Thanos and live without facing the consequences - so he wanted Heimdall to tell these words to Thor.

"Your optimism is misplaced, Asgardian." Thanos informed him, unimpressed, studying him and contemplating what to do with him.

"Well, for one thing, I'm not Asgardian." The Titan frowned at that. "And for another," he waited out a slightly dramatic pause before continuing. "We have the Hulk."

As though it were practiced, Hulk took that as his cue to attack Thanos, managing to corner him against the wall with brutal punches but Loki noticed immediately that Thanos was not faltering or bruising. Instead, within moments, Thanos turned the tables, more experienced a warrior than the Earthly beast and easily almost completely knocking out the mightiest rival Thor possessed. The Hulk made no move to get up. Brunhilda's life force was not reaching Loki's magical awareness, gone, having shielded Banner against more than she could take, the last Valkyrie dead, and Heimdall's was slowly seeping out of him, his wounds to extensive for him to recover. Perhaps he needed time. But sadly, time is the one thing they had run out of.

Thanos turned to him, Ebony Maw presenting him with the cube with another of his speeches but Thanos' eyes did not stray from Loki. His struggle with the Hulk had caused him to loose his concentration, so Loki found himself free and standing, a phased dagger in his hand. He watched as Thanos finally looked away, only long enough to crush the outer shell that was the Tesseract and reach inside for the Space Stone.

"Allfathers," Loki's head snapped up in panic when he heard Heimdall's raspy, wheezy, breathless voice all but whisper the words. "Let dark magic flow through me one last," an ugly, wet gurgle left him as he pointed towards the Hulk. "Time." The Bifrost, possibly for the last time ever, flashed through the universe, the rainbow colors snatching up the Avenger and taking him, back to Earth. Loki saw Heimdall crush the devices Stark made them and rushed to do his own, his head snapping up a second time when he heard Thanos slide a spear through Heimdall's heart.

Rage overtook Loki - Heimdall was no blood relation of his, but he had learned blood is not all that makes a family and Heimdall had looked out for him and Thor long enough to earn that status - and he lunged at Thanos, his true features showing, but Thanos grabbed his wrist, broke it and let the dagger fall out of his useless hand, the hand with the Gauntlet coming up to grab a hold of his neck and _choke_ him. As he gasped and struggled for breath, Loki remembered doing the same thing to Stark and wished he had apologized better for it. Instead of fighting Thanos, though, he reached once again for the device - he had to destroy it! Earth's shields were designed to keep out even transportation through the Space Stone's portals so another New York incident can't happen again, but this device could destroy all of Stark's carefully best laid plans if Thanos ever got his hands on it! - but Thanos' caught his other hand, too, and, to Loki's relief, _crushed_ it as well.

Loki could not help but smile at Thanos, confusing the Titan. He may have the Space Stone, but it will not give him immediate access to the other two that are on Earth. But Thanos didn't seem to care about that and only tightened his grip until Loki felt his vision starting to turn black.

"You will never ... be a ... _god_."

Death was definitely worth the irked expression that was his last sight.

He hoped Thor will forgive him for making him mourn him _again_.

He hoped Strange was _right_ and Stark was the key.

He hoped Stark was ready.

Because Thanos was coming.


	31. Chapter 31

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

"Okay, I think that's enough for today." Stephen said, interrupting Tony's training session after he was sure that the genius had mastered their latest lesson. The Sorcerer Supreme was still amazed by how easily all of this seemed to be coming to a man who had, until recently, wanted to have nothing to do with all things magic. Perhaps it was rushing to him to prove itself or to make a point? You could never tell with the energies that flowed in the universe. "You did good."

"I still think I should try a few more times," Tony insisted but didn't protest when Stephen put a hand on his shoulder and guided him out of the library of the Sanctum. It was nearing lunchtime so Stephen figured they could end the lesson a little early and he can make sure Tony actually eats something before he goes out to give the other transmitters to the others. He had Scott give one to Barton and planned to send Shuri and T'Challa their's through a portal before he leaves, but Stephen didn't know how many of the others were already handed over.

"You shouldn't overwork yourself. You're already so far ahead of any other disciples we've picked up around the same time _you_ started training. You can rest, every now and then." He shrugged off the Cloak and ignored the way the mystic artifact was trying to imitate a pout. It's been spending _way_ too much time around the kids at the Tower if it was picking up their mannerisms. Stephen phased into an outfit similar to Tony's - a pair of jeans, white sneakers, white tight shirt and a black, plain jersey over it. He also ignored how the Cloak seemed to be _glaring_ at the jersey. That thing was becoming irrational. Tony himself was in a pair of sweats and matching jersey, gray in color with orange military-like designs, a tight, _tight_ dark gray almost black shirt hugging his body underneath. It was the most casual Tony had been in public in a while and Stephen took little shame in checking him out. "You can't always be working, Tony. It's not healthy."

"You know what else isn't healthy? Letting half of the universe die because I'm resting." That gave Stephen pause and he looked closely at the engineer, noticing his ragged appearance and the slight dark circles under his eyes. Ever since he started meditating daily, Tony had confessed to sleeping better and having FRIDAY and JARVIS constantly in his head due to Extremis helped him avoid nightmares. Aside from the occasional science or inventing binge, it had become an exceedingly rare sight to see these same dark circles under Tony's eyes. No, this wasn't just a night of lost sleep. Tony could go on for days now without them noticing that he wasn't sleeping, also due to Extremis. The billionaire sighed and caved under Stephen's gaze, opening up to him like any other time during the past half a year. "I ... I dreamed about it. Thanos coming to Earth. I ... I _feel_ like he's hanging over my head, like he's stalking me and if I just turn around or look over my shoulder quickly enough, I'll see a glimpse of him there and it's driving me _crazy_." Brown eyes looked up at him, haunted and terrified. "I fear we've run out of time, Stephen. I just ... I can't shake that nightmare. And now, suddenly, Loki had to leave the planet and ... It all feels-"

"Too convenient?" Tony nodded and Stephen frowned. "Yes, I thought so, too. I mean, why wait until _now_ to invite New Asgard representatives? It almost feels like-"

"Someone's trying 'divide and conquer'? Like they're stretching us, thinning us apart? Exactly. The Guardians off to only gods knows where - literally - Thor gone to make a magical ax and now Loki going to that Sakaar place with Bruce, Heimdall and a Valkyrie, a fierce enough warrior that even Loki doesn't mess with her? Not to mention the wedge between the rouges and the Accords approved team, Scott and Clint ditching them, Wakanda still keeping pretty much to itself and your sorcerer buddies keeping to themselves. Inhumans and mutants are only there to help. They don't want to be active superheroes. And New SHIELD's doing their own thing ... There's just ... so much going on that I feel almost like someone is purposefully making things difficult for us to wear us out." Stark let out a tired sigh and ran a hand through his hair. "Or maybe it's really just my paranoia and nightmares acting up."

Strange caught the hand relentlessly tapping the Arc Reactor - a tick Tony never got over, it seemed - and drew it away from the potentially dangerous device - he was _sure_ that thing somehow summoned the armor; he hadn't seen or figured out yet just _how_ but he was bound to find out one of these days. All he knew for now was that the armor almost _magically_ appeared on Tony when there was a fight - and held it at eye level between them, just a little to the side, gazing calmly into Tony's eyes. "I doubt it. You have good instincts, Tony, and getting in touch with the Mystic Arts has broadened your perception of the world we live in. Perhaps your nightmare might be a warning sent from the universe."

"Or it _could_ be Maximoff messing with my head again."

Stephen scoffed at that. "Now _that_ I rather doubt. Maximoff, getting through both the protection spell I gave you and your own mental defenses? Practically impossible." Tony huffed at that but Stephen stopped him before he could, predictably, point out that the impossible always becomes possible around Tony Stark. Not that it wasn't _true_ but Tony didn't need to think about that right now. "Tony, you have a right to think something is coming. No one will begrudge you. We can just hurry up a few of the preparations and everything will be set."

"You see, that's where you're wrong, Stephen." Tony shook his head but didn't move away or try to take his hand back. Both their hands had scars. Stephen's were a result of his accident and the failed surgeries that followed but Tony's scars were a silent testimony to how much Tony worked and just how much he had went through. What a pair they made, scarred and broken, put back together again through their own brilliance and stubbornness and the greater purpose the multiverse had set out for them. "I've been talking about a greater threat - about _Thanos_ \- for _six_ years. He's been stuck in my head for _six years_, ever since the Battle of New York and now he's back! But no one wanted to believe me, to even _listen_ to me. ULTRON was a peace keeping, world wide security blanket that would have been ideal to deal with Thanos, but the Mind Stone corrupted the program and Ultron, the killer bot, was born and it was all _blamed on me_! Never mind I lost JARVIS or just how ... awkward Vision was around me. Wanda's powers came from the Mind Stone but she has no control of them. Ever since a few days before Sokovia, I've been seeing my friends _dying_ while I live and they _always_ ask me why I didn't do _more_. I _tried_ doing more and, in the end, when it mattered the most, they didn't _listen_."

Tony was now gripping his hand back, careful not to hurt his hand, but seeming to hold on because Stephen was his only anchor to reality. The Cloak took matters into its own ... hands, for a lack of a better term, coming to rest around Stephen's shoulders and reached out to Tony, wrapping the smaller man into a sort of comforting embrace and pulling him closer to Stephen. It was just weird like that.

"The Accords, in their former, relentless form, only happened because they let Maximoff on the team. I left because I couldn't be around her and there was suddenly no one to act as a buffer between their fuck ups and the public and the politicians who have been frantic or salivating at the mouth, in Ross' case, to get people like us under control. And when I tried to point this out, to give a solution that would then be further discussed and worked upon, they _spat in my face_. So yes, Doc, there are _quite a few_ people who would begrudge my trying to prepare us for something I _know_ is coming, something I _know_ is happening." Tony stopped fiddling with the Cloak's fabric and looked down, hiding the anguish in his eyes. "Until you came, Doc, I was alone. Even if you saw the future or whatever, you still _listened_. Besides JARVIS, FRIDAY and my bots, no one else did. Peter might have but I refuse to put that weight on his shoulders, no matter how strong he is. He's a kid."

"He would have gladly shared the burden." Stephen pointed out, even though he needn't have. They both knew how eager Peter was to be of help or use to his mentor. And they both knew Tony will fight tooth and nail not to let him. For as long as possible. "But I am glad you chose to trust me to help you bear it. You have ... _insanely_ quickly became very important to me, Tony. Christine had needed several years, Mordo and Wong both have needed about a year themselves and the Cloak is the only exception since I've grown fond of it on day two since it came to me. You're the only person I would consider calling when I am vulnerable because I _trust_ you. Sure, Christine can patch me up but if I needed help with something? I wouldn't dare call her but I know I can rely on _you_. Maybe it's time you can start relying on someone else and not just your own strength?"

"A bit tougher than you'd think," Tony laughed a humorless laugh. "When all life has taught me is to stand strong on my own." He sounds almost defeated when he says it. It's heartbreaking.

Stephen can't resist. He lets go of Tony's hand and wraps the engineer in a tight hug that the Cloak most definitely supports, wrapping even tighter around the two men. He rests his chin on his friend's head and mourns how life has treated the one man that can save it. But perhaps the universe has shaped him this way for a reason. There was not a more stubborn or more determined or more fearless man in the entire _universe_ than Tony Stark and they will definitely need that. He still wishes that Tony could have had a little more love, a little more support than he has right now.

"Well, you don't have to stand alone now. You have the New Avengers, the Defenders, the 'Revengers'," they both roll their eyes at the name Thor had given his group and insisted upon. Loki had looked the most exasperated. "The Fantastic Four, the X-Men, the Brotherhood, the Inhumans and probably the Guardians of the Galaxy. You have all those other people who live in your Tower and support you and you even have the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj at your back. And you have me and the Cloak." He added almost shyly, not letting Ton look up to see the mortified pink hue of his cheeks. "You're not alone, Tony. You don't have to be the one carrying the world on your shoulders. You don't have to be some modern day representation of Atlas. You've done enough on your own. It's time to start letting others do some of the things you thought you had to do by yourself. You have a _tea_m, Tony. A _family_. We can help. We _want_ to help. And it would be really nice if you'd let us."

"Maybe I will," Tony mumbled into his chest and Stephen startled when he felt arms wrap around his waist beneath the Cloak. He smiled to himself and just held the genius closer. "I guess it _is_ about damn time I learn to play with others."

"Good." The Sorcerer Supreme grunted. "And if the rouges ever bother you again, I am _definitely_ sending them to the Dark Dimension. You can't change my mind." They had been incredible pricks when Tony had offered them a peace offering in the form of a device that was currently quite possibly the most powerful and important piece of technology Earth will ever see. It, after all, controls the shields around Earth, their only real defense against Thanos and his army. He grunted again when Tony tried to elbow his way out of the hug.

"I'm not complaining but I _am_ hungry, so how about we go get something to eat? I haven't finished breakfast this morning before Bruce came to tell me he was going with Loki to Sakaar and I could do with a good New York sub."

Stephen could help but laugh at that, shooing the Cloak when it tried to draw them back together. There were limits to such things before you freak someone out, not something an article of clothing, no matter how sentient or how ancient, will ever really get since invading a human's personal space is kind of their thing. Still, he needs to understand that humans don't operate like that when interacting with each other. Not as friends, at least. He did his best not to show Tony his bittersweet smile as he knew that he and Tony will probably never get a chance to actually be anything more.

"Wong! We're going to get lunch! You want anything!" Stark called out and Strange rolled his eyes.

"Don't buy him food! He'll get lazy."

"That's rich, coming from you," the Asian sorcerer grumbled as he met them at the staircase, Tony still tugging Stephen towards the front doors. "If I didn't occasionally bring you a meal, you'd die of starvation by free will."

"Is that you way of saying you have no money and want _us _to buy you something?" Stephen challenged and was surprised when Wong didn't answer him. The Cloak just watched from the upper floor, probably entertained by the silly humans it was surrounded by. Stephen often wondered what sort of thought ran through a magical Cloak's mind. The thing was freaking ancient. It must be exasperated by them, at least a little. "_Seriously_? You don't have _any _money?"

"Attachment to the material is detachment from the spiritual." Wong lectured matter of factly as he descended after them. Tony chuckles at their exchange but Stephen is so not letting Wong win this one.

"I'll tell the guys at the deli." He replies wryly, sarcasm dripping from each word. "Maybe they'll make you a metaphysical ham on rye." He steals a satisfied glance at Tony, whose shoulders are shaking with how hard he was trying to suppress his laughter. Good. His earlier mood was gone. Happiness definitely was meant to be worn by Tony Stark.

Wong, not wanting to go hungry and knowing Stephen could be just that spiteful, starts searching through his pockets. Even if he doesn't have enough to buy his own meal, Stephen will pay up the rest, he just likes messing with the usually composed Asian man. "Oh, wait, wait, wait, I think I have 200."

"Dollars?" Both he and Tony ask at the same time, exchanging glances. Tony knew just how much sorcerers struggled to get the finances for food, water and clothing since protecting the Earth from metaphysical threats wasn't exactly a paying job. Two hundred dollars was an entire fortune for a sorcerer.

"Rupees," Wong replies almost sheepishly, or as sheepishly as Wong can. Stephen rolls his eyes and sighs.

"Which is?"

"Uh, buck and a half." The doctor can't help but groan. Seriously?

"What do you want? I'm buying," Tony decided to take pity on the librarian and asked with a smile. Stephen wanted to shake his head at the genius' generosity. Sure, this wouldn't even be noticeable to his fortune but it still surprised him that anyone could say Tony Stark was egotistical. The man just gave and gave and people just took and took.

"I wouldn't say no to a tuna melt." Stephen is at least glad that Wong has the decency to sound thankful and be modest about his request because they both knew that if they had asked for it, Tony would have delivered a buffet table with a wide variety of food that would be enough to feed all of the sorcerers at Kamar-Taj and the other Sanctums. Maybe after this whole nightmare of the upcoming threat is over. A celebratory meal would be in order.

As though it was summoned by his thoughts alone, Tony got an alert that the shield was opened for the Bifrost and not a minute later, something bright and hurtling at amazing speeds crashed into the Sanctum, through the room, sending debris everywhere. Stephen and Wong had pushed Tony, a lesser sorcerer, a disciple, by the standards of Kamar-Taj, back, shielding their faces from the debris with raised hands before running up the now ruined stairs, the Cloak wrapping around his shoulders as his clothes phased back into his sorcerer outfit.

To his and Wong's great surprise, they found a slowly shrinking Hulk back into Bruce Banner in the ruins of the stairs, huffing and out of breath, eyes terrified as though he had seen death itself. He's half naked, only having his ruined pants on, his hair is disheveled and he seems to be covered in sweat, sooth and dirt, smelling distinctly of garbage. His frantic eyes searched Wong's and Stephen's faces but his words sent chills down the two sorcerer's spines. Stephen didn't even want to think about what Tony might be feeling.

"Thanos is coming. He's coming..."

The battle had come.


	32. Chapter 32

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

They had only enough time for Bruce to explain what had happened on Sakaar - how Thanos had apparently tricked them into coming, tricked them by using the Reality Stone to warp the truth to serve his purposes so they didn't immediately notice that the planet had been destroyed; how Thanos had so easily defeated them, defeated _Hulk _in a fist fight and killed Brunhilda; how Loki was probably dead and the Tesseract's Space Stone was probably in the Gauntlet and that Heimdall had sent Bruce back to Earth with the last of his strength - and get Bruce some clothes (Tony felt pity for him so he had Strange fetch him another of his jackets since Bruce definitely looked like he needed a security blanket right now) before Tony felt a shift in the air.

It could have been the breeze from the broken roof. It could have been a draft - the Sanctum _was _an old building, after all. It could have been his imagination. It could have been his paranoia acting up. It could have been the magic of the place.

Yet he knew it wasn't and turned to face Stephen from where he was still holding Bruce around the shoulders as the older man desperately clutched at him, drawing strength from the one man that never seemed to appear weak in front of others.

(_Sometimes, Tony wants to scream, to yell, to rage. He was _human_, he had his limits! He can't always be strong. It's not _fair _that everyone always expected he had enough strength to share with everyone when most days, he needed it to fight his own demons. But he didn't dare keep his strength all to himself. If it would keep the world safe and turning, he'll give even that which he doesn't have._)

"Say, Doc, you wouldn't happen to be moving your hair, would you?"

The other two men look perplexed at his question and look over to Stephen, who is also looking up at his forelock fluttering. He frowns. "Not at the moment, no." Their eyes lock for a moment before Tony looks at the Hulk-made opening through the ceiling and sees debris flying by outside. He exits the Sanctum through the front door and scans the chaotic surroundings, seeing the chaos, people running and screaming in alarm, traffic becoming impossibly tangled, a litter-filled wind like a nor'easter's.

He's only half aware of the other's following him out as a woman falls nearly at his feet and he helps her up. He asks her if she is alright but she ignores him and continues running away, trying to save her own life. He continues walking, trying to get closer to whatever is causing this mayhem. Good thing, too, because a car crashes in on a pole behind Tony. His usual collateral-damage-control kicks in and he turns around even as he continues walking forwards.

"Help him! Wong, Doc." He leaves them to, it, knowing either Banner or Strange will be more than enough if the guy is injured, instead turning back around to focus on what was causing all of this. He sends a command for his nanites to form a pair of innocent, unassuming sunglasses and he places them on his head. "JARVIS, FRIDAY, what am I looking at?"

"I'm not sure. I'm working on it." A worried FRIDAY tells him, but JARVIS' report nearly has him freezing in place.

"The shields are down, Sir. The satellites are disengaged. The reason we did not get a ping for a request to open up the shields was because they were already open." But that was impossible. The shields can only be taken down with one of the devices. Did Thanos manage to get one from Heimdall or Loki? Also impossible! Tony had insisted when he first told them about the devices that they are to be destroyed no matter what, if either of them ever doubts they'll make it out alive out of some situation and Bruce still had his! Besides, no one even knows of that feature in the devices but Tony and his bots! He hadn't told anyone for a reason! Loki, Vision, Wanda and their sorcerer friends are far from the only ones who can read minds! And for Thanos to use it just to send one ship trough would have sent a _request _to _Tony _to open up the shields! Only he or one of his bots can actually open the _damned _things!

He shook his head when he heard a little girl crying as her father rushed her away in his arms. He didn't have time to think about that. These civilians need protection. He turns behind himself, not at all surprised to see Stephen was the one who followed him into battle. "Hey! You might wanna put that Time Stone in your back pocket, Doc!"

Stephen looks none too amused, bands of spells already readied around his forearms, the golden mandalas glowing as he follows only a few steps behind Tony, face determined. "Might wanna use it."

A mechanical hum grows louder as Tony approaches the intersection. As he turns the corner, he sees a huge circular ship floating over Bleecker Street. He swears it looks like a giant, floating, space-worthy donut but he really doesn't want to think about that because he's not ready to swear off donuts for the rest of his life.

"FRIDAY, evac anyone south of 43rd Street, notify first responders. JARVIS, call the others. If they haven't seen this yet, tell them to get the hell off of their damned asses and get out here! I want them here _yesterday_!" Tony orders even as Doctor Strange throws the Winds of Watoomb over Bleeker Street, and winks at Tony. The dust clears, for the first time allowing them to clearly see the street and the ship hovering over it. Tony is begrudgingly amused for a split second before he catches a glimpse of two figures standing some distance away, down the street. Waiting for them. "J, tell JOCASTA to take over the Iron Legion. I'll need both you and FRI with me. Activate VERONICA and tell her to be on standby. Things are about to get messy."

There are two aliens waiting for them as they approach, gray wrinkly and ugly. Of _course _there are. Tony Stark's life had not been normal since the day he created the first Iron Man armor in that damned cave in Afghanistan. "Hear me, and rejoice." The smaller of the two says, the bigger just grunting and doing something with the hammer-axe thing in its hands."You are about to die at the hands of the Children of Thanos. Be thankful, that your meaningless lives are now contributing to-"

Alright, Tony has had enough of the delusional shit. He deals with enough of it from the rouges. He doesn't need more from an alien. So with as much defiance and sass as he can muster - and he must admit he sound just like his old sassy self that had told the Senate to go fuck themselves - he crosses his arms and interrupts the alien. "I'm sorry, Earth is closed today. You better pack it up and get outta here."

The alien looks boredly at Tony before his eyes stray to Strange and they all go tense. "Stonekeeper," he addresses the Sorcerer Supreme, gesturing at Tony. "Does this chattering animal speak for you?"

Tony bristles and Strange scowls. "Certainly not. I speak for myself. Although I completely agree with my companion." Magical shields are readied with his fists, stepping forward. "You're trespassing in this city and on this planet." Tony doesn't need to look back to know that Wong had done the same, the two sorcerers ready to go to battle. He'd join them, but he has his own primary form of defense and battle.

"It means get lost, Squidward!"

The slighter alien still looks bored, although annoyance was slowly seeping into his eyes. Tony counts that as a win. "He exhausts me." He tells his bigger companion, who grunts something in reply. "Bring me the Stone."

The big alien drops his huge alien hammer and drags it along as he obeys his brethren. If he thought he was intimidating, then he doesn't realize what sort of shit Tony's already been through. He'd been inside one of those giant space whales. "Banner, you want a piece?" He asks casually, watching the big alien's approach.

"No, not really, but since when do I ever get what I want." Bruce mutters but steps up, preparing to turn into the Hulk. Only nothing seems to be happening, which was weird. Usually turning into the Hulk was the easy part. Tony had never seen Bruce having this much time coaxing the big guy out.

"Where's your guy?" An incredulous Tony can't help but ask, staring at Bruce as only the skin of his neck turns green before fading.

Bruce sighs and shakes his head. "I don't know. We've sort been havin' a thing."

Tony knows the sorcerers must be as stunned and incredulous looking as he is. "There's no time for a thing." He says a little more urgently and ignores Bruce's "I know," pointing at the approaching rhino-looking thing. "That's the thing right there. Let's go" Bruce gives out a loud grunt, but fails to release the Hulk. Another try, failed. Strange stares at Tony and Bruce unbelievingly. Tony figures he can understand. It's still uncomfortable to see Stephen staring like that. He looks back at Bruce, who once again has failed to bring out the Hulk and stage-whispers to him. "Dude, you're embarrassing me in front of the wizards."

Bruce looks wrecked and guilty as he looks desperately to Tony for aid, almost begging him to poke him like when they first met. "Tony, I'm sorry." He starts stammering and Tony feels his heart clench. Just when Bruce had finally - _finally _\- grown used to the Hulk and accepted him, this happens. And at the worst possible time, too. Bruce was sure he had seen Loki, Heimdall and Brunhilda die and now ... "Either I can't or he won't-"

Tony pats him on the shoulder and directs him to Wong. "It's okay. Hey, stand down." To the Asian sorcerer, he tells with absolute seriousness. "Keep an eye on him. Thank you." He knows Wong will look out for Banner, so he turns around and ignores Wong's reassurance that he's got Bruce and Bruce's frustrated curse.

Instead, he turns back to face his opponent. As Black Dwarf approaches the team, Stark pills the strings on his hoodie and it comes snug to his body before he taps his Arc Reactor and dons his nanotech Iron Man suit in the space of three steps like a total badass, letting it flow over him like a second skin growing to protect him from the Arc Reactor on his chest. He grows a shield on one arm from the same nanobots to protect himself when the rhino thing attacks, then grows a set of blasters that easily throw the Dwarf back to Maw, who gestures and deflects his massive companion into some cars. So the little guy has telekinesis. Tony will have to watch out for him.

"Where'd that come from?!" Stark grinned behind his faceplate because he had _never_ heard Bruce sound _that_ impressed. Well, not since he first introduced his fellow scientist to 'candy land' and his own personal lab. Tony had to admit, this was _quite_ the upgrade. T'Challa and Shuri can eat their hearts out because Iron Man Bleeding Edge Armor was the bomb! The Black Panther suit? That's a Ferrari. Tony's suit? A mother fucking space ship, that's what it was!

He turned around, letting the others get a good look while he studied their more than a little impressed and stunned faces. Hey, he even managed to surprise Stephen! No easy feat, given the guy had probably seen the armor in those milions of futures he'd seen. Even Wong couldn't hold his resting bitch face! Tony was probably more giddy than was appropriate for the end of the world. "It's nanotech. You like it? A little somet-"

But he was _rudely_ interrupted when Squidward suddenly attacks him with some sort of spike of earth from below, throwing him up high and away from the group that he then attacks. Tony registers Wong activating the Shield of Seraphim to keep them safe and JARVIS pings him that Stephen had used to opportunity to portal Bruce to a slightly safer place, some distance away in some random park. But that means he's not ready to intercept the car the slim alien throws at him and Wong, only starting on a spell, so Tony swoops in down low and blasts the car with a repulsor, pushing it back at the telepath, who cuts it practically in half. The two pieces land behind him, not even touching him. Damn, this guy was good.

_'We could _so_ use an X-Man right now. Or better yet, _Magneto_. He'd show this guy a thing or two. He may be restricted to metal but I honestly think he's stronger than this guy,'_ Tony muses, even as he scans the alien. _'Talk to me, JARVIS.'_

_-His energy signature when controlling the objects suggests he is, indeed, using telekinesis, Sir. The energy readings increase in the areas of his brain and his hands while draining most of the energy out of the rest of his body, unlike with your mutant colleagues. The concentrated energy he produces to influence objects, however, seems highly refined and speaks of many years of practice. At the point of how he is reserving his energy with each attack, I am guessing he can go on like this for 3.4 hours without tiring before he would start to strain.-_

_-On another note,-_ FRIDAY pipped in. _-His companion's scans indicate that he is, indeed, not stronger than the Hulk and has barely any other significant or noteworthy extra abilities. His weapon, however, suggests that it's designed for a wast variety of uses so be careful, Boss. It's not just a hammer.-_

_'Why can't it ever be _just_ a hammer?!'_ He bemoans even as he turns to Strange. A telekinesis master was not good news for a guy whose necklace can be so easily removed. "We gotta get that Stone out of here."

"It stays with me," Stephen insists, the 'Where it is safest' going unsaid but he and Stephen had been needing less and less words these days to communicate all they needed so Tony still heard it, even without direct eye contact. It was a good thing he had expected that response and hadn't meant for the Stone to be removed from Stephen's person.

"Exactly. Bye," he surprises Stephen by turning around and flying at Ebony Maw, who tries to stop him by creating obstacles with countless objects and infrastructure around them as he tries to catch Tony. Tony's survived a falling city and maneuvered through the streets of New York and Chitauri minions in a suit and this one was more intuitive than any before, especially with _two_ AIs and Tony himself directly connected to it. He managed to avoid them all and had actually gotten pretty damn close to Maw when Cull Obsidian's hammer thing cut his path short, blindsided him and sent him flying straight through a building and into the park on the other side. He plowed into the ground and cursed himself for getting the damned symptom of tunnel vision to have overlooked something that obvious and cliché.

"Tony, you okay?" Bruce suddenly appears in his vision, looking down at him. "How are we doing? Good? Bad?"

"Really, really good. Really good," Tony couldn't keep out most of the sarcasm out of his reply, frustrated. More so with himself than with Banner, but he had the bad luck to be close enough to end up on the receiving end of it. "Are you planning on helping out?"

"I'm trying, but he won't come out." The other scientist protests just as the rhino thing comes back for round three. He throws a hammer in their direction but Tony's seen him this time and pushes Bruce out of the way with a flippant warning of 'Hammer'. It really was not fair how many times hammers have been the bane of his frustration. Justin Hammer, Thor's magical laws-of-physics,-defying hammer now _this_ guy's hammer. The first is still the most annoying but at least it's also the easiest to deal with. But he has another hammer to deal with now, mainly this guy's. He blasts a beam of energy at the dude as he flies a safe distance away around him, but the beam deflects and causes more damage, also almost squashing Bruce under the struck, falling tree. You'd think _that_ would get the big guy to come out, but _no_. The Hulk found _today_ to decide he was a drama queen. He'll have to have a stern talking to to the green mean smashing machine-

He grunts as the damned hammer knocks him down a second time, slamming him into the ground. Cull Obsidian moves closer decisively, raising his hammer to take the final blow and Tony's mind was already working in overdrive of just how much force the suit can take and how much force his artificial sternum can take, but the hit never lands.

"Hey, man. What's up, Mr Stark?" It doesn't land because the unexpected appearance of Peter Parker, enhanced teenager from Queens and Tony's protégé/brain child/ adopted sun mark II, AKA Spider-man, appears before him at just the right moment to stop it mid swing. The alien blinks in confusion how someone so slim and small can stop _him_ but Tony's more shocked and _worried_ that Peter was getting involved. This shouldn't be happening, it _can't_ be happening! The Young Avengers weren't meant to face intergalactic threats, they would have been protecting civilians at best! Guiding them to safety! Not in the heat of battle! God, Peter shouldn't _be_ here!

"Kid? Where'd you come from!?" He was glad the hysteria didn't reach his voice, if only not to somehow influence Peter's focus on the battle.

"Filed trip to MoMAAA!" The red and blue clad superhero was suddenly flung away by the big alien. "What's this guy's problem, Mr Stark?" Peter asks as he swiftly recovers and returns to battle.

"He's from space. He came here to steal a necklace from a wizard." God, it just showed how _strange_ their lives were that neither of them found this conversation weird and instead continued fighting the alien as though it were an everyday event. Tony couldn't even blame this on magic. He changed his mind when,a few minutes later, Strange zipped past them, unconscious, the Cloak trying to fly him away as fast as it can go and Ebony Maw following closely behind. "Kid, there's the wizard. Get on it."

"On it!" The teen swings away, leaving Tony alone with Cull Obsidian the rhino thing. He prefers it that way. Besides telekinesis, Peter was ten times safer fighting Ebony Maw, anyway, since Peter could snap him like a precle.

_'FRIDAY, where's Vision? When's the cavalry coming? We could use some help here!'_

_-I'm sorry, Boss, but it would seem Captain Marvel, Daredevil, the Fantastic Four and Jessica Jones of the Defenders are playing keep away with an injured Vision against two other aliens. The rest of the New Avengers, the X-Men, the Brotherhood and Iron Fist are dealing with a second alien ship that hovers close to the Tower. Ms Marvel and Inferno are helping Hawkeye and Ant Man keep the Tower safe and the people inside from getting hurt while the other Defenders are clearing out the civilians on the streets.-_

Which meant no backup. Damn it. "What about Rodgers and the others!?" He knew that the Inhumans, besides Kamala and Dante, were too far away to be of immediate help but the rouges could get here in ten to fifteen minutes in the Quinjet parked at the Compound!

"Uhh, Mr Stark? I'm being beamed up!" Came Peter's voice over the comms and Tony's heart nearly stops at those words. And, sure enough, when he looks up at the alien ship hovering over Greenwich Village, he sees three figures being sucked upwards into the ship. When he zooms in, his heart _does_ stop, because it's _Peter_, _Stephen_ and his Cloak.

"Hang on, kid!" He called but then found himself trapped and on the ground again. The rhino-thing's hammer was indeed multifunctional and now doubled as a claw that clutched Tony and pinned him down in the suit, momentarily shorting it out. The alien drew out some blades and jumped towards him, obviously ready to end the fight, a sparkly portal opened in front of Tony and Obsidian fell through, landing in some ice wasteland, probably Antarctica. As the portal closed, Tony saw a hand fall to the ground, cut off and he guessed their enemy had tried lunging through to continue the fight. But Stark didn't waste any time on that, instead focusing a surge of magic into the contraption holding him until it kind of exploded off of him and he jumped up. "Wong, you're officially my favorite."

And he was off, urging to suit faster. Peter was on that spaceship. Stephen and the Cloak were there, too. Tony was _not_ letting them - or the Time Stone - fall into Thanos' greedy hands.

Which is how, for the second time in six years, Tony Stark found himself deep in space.


	33. Chapter 33

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

Stephen knew Tony was glaring at him and he knew he probably deserved the engineer's ire, but he'd really rather not have it directed at himself if at all possible, especially not now. Not after he'd been tortured and felt the freezing coldness of space. Had it not been for the Cloak and Peter, he'd be out there with Ebony Maw, dead. Had it not been for them and Tony, he'd be tortured until he was brought before the Mad Titan because he wouldn't, _couldn't_ give up the Time Stone. Because the moment he does give it up, they enter the endgame and it was too soon. The outcome, under these circumstances, would be catastrophic and irreversible.

He still doesn't like arguing with Tony as the man calls him out on his bullshit about having it under control and not needing any help. He guessed it was rather hypocritical of him to act like this when he had asked Tony, barely an hour ago, if that much, to share his burdens with others so that they don't become overwhelming. He knew his words would come and bite him in the ass one day, but he hadn't expected it to be on the very same day as he'd said them.

Tony was right, though. About more than a few things. It was all partially Stephen's fault. Maybe even mostly, in regards to their current situation. Had Stephen stepped back like Tony had asked, maybe Spider-man wouldn't have been beamed up with him and the Cloak of Levitation. Then they would have waited for the backup Tony no doubt already had on the way but he knew they wouldn't arrive in time. Even the Iron Legion had been busy with the second ship, much closer to the Stark Tower and the hundreds of people in there. Not to mention the Mind Stone. Still, it had happened as it had, which had led to Tony rushing after him and Peter, unsuccessfully trying to get the teen to stay on planet and him nearly being blasted off into space along with Ebony Maw due to Peter's pop-culture solution from a damned movie. Stephen had never really liked any of the Alien movies. He had much more refined tastes.

Still, the plan had been successful, only it had led to an argument between him and Tony because the engineer refused to turn the ship back around to Earth. It was a good call - and not just because Stephen knew how this had to play out - seeing as the damage just _two_ of Thanos' 'children' had managed to create in a short battle in a semi contained area of the city. The casualties and collateral damage could have skyrocketed if all of the Black Order were to stand together and fight as a united front with the heroes so thinly spread out. Civilians were the priority to them but not the aliens. They'd kill and use anyone they could to get to the Stones and a prolonged fight against them could have ended in injuries they can't afford to suffer from when Thanos comes. Bringing the fight to Thanos - to Titan, where there is no one to get hurt or worse in the fallout of a mini war going on - was their best option. It put them far away from their friends and any backup they could have had, but Earth had just lost her greatest defender and they needed _everyone else_ to pick up the slack in Tony's absence.

Hopefully, the genius scientists they left back on Earth will figure out why the shielding hadn't worked and manage to fix it between themselves, even without Tony.

But even his agreement to go to Titan hadn't gone over all that smoothly. Saying "If it comes to saving you or the kid or the Time Stone, I won't hesitate to let either of you die. I can't, because the fate of the universe depends on it." and seeing how Tony's eyes aren't hurt, betrayed or accusing, instead simply accepting as he flippantly says "Nice. Good. Moral compass. We're straight." was more difficult than he'd ever thought a single conversation like that has any right to be. He couldn't even look at Stark as the man faux knighted Peter an official Avenger. Not _Young_ Avenger, but _Avenger_. The words he said hurt more than the possibility of them have been carried out in a couple of thousands of futures he'd seen with the Time Stone and he blames his compromised heart for that pain but he embraces it.

Pain was an old friend that he embraces, as it reminds him he is still human and that the mistakes he's once made are not to be repeated.

He's a little surprised when Tony sits next to him and picks up one of his hands, inspecting the old scars. He lets him, figuring he owed the man that much after the shit he's put him through and the absolute crap he's going to put him through soon enough. He ignores how the Time Stone's energy is reaching out to Tony. Mordo was definitely right about the Stones starting to resonate for Stark sooner or later. He just wonders how long he can keep Tony from finding out about it.

"I had JARVIS send Vision instructions to go hide in Wakanda since the planet-wide shielding seems to be offline, for whatever reason." The shorter man tells him and Stephen winces at how tired he sounds. Many hours had been put into those shields, by all parties involved. Stephen knew that magic alone couldn't stop a wormhole created by the Space Stone from breaking through the Earth's atmosphere, which was why Tony's Arc Reactor powered satellites were put in place, since the reactor's energy is so similar to an Infinity Stone's that it can cancel out its power. Starkenium and Vibranium canceled out each other's created energy fields around the satellites, which is why the Master's of the Mystic Arts created shielding for the satellites themselves as well as a shield against portals similar to their's or to the Bifrost. The shielding of planet Earth was so complex and layered that the failing of the shield was _impossible_. None of the satellites can be destroyed, not to mention that they were guarded by both VERONICA and several Asgardians all around the globe. Which meant someone on the inside had shut the shielding off. Stephen understood that much.

He dreaded to think that they had a traitor at such a crucial moment in the turning of the universe. How had he not seen that in any of the futures he'd viewed? Had he missed it? Where there signs he had somehow ignored?

"JOCASTA is spreading the Iron Legion throughout New York to help with a swift cleanup effort. The Defenders are staying, so they can keep the Tower and the Sanctum safe with Wong, Barton and Lang. Their families and friends are being sent to the underground bunker in the Compound, in case this becomes a global war or something. I'm sure Wong got the memo to the other Masters and to Kamar-Taj. Carol is officially the second in command, so she'll probably take over the command of the Avengers. I think FRIDAY might have managed to send a message to Asgard about Loki before we got out of VERONICA's signal reach. I had VERONICA contact Shuri about the shielding. Hopefully she and the others will manage to find out just what the fuck happened. That shield _shouldn't_ have failed like that! We _tested_ it against the Tesseract's power! Could it be a miscalculation due to how much power the casing was restricting?"

Stephen twisted his hand in Tony's hold to grip one of the engineer's fidgeting hands. "I rather doubt it. Loki knew how to push that thing and we all did the calculations _many_ times and we all got the same results. I know you're thinking the same thing I am."

"I was afraid of that." Tony gripped back, somehow tight and yet infinitely gentle with Stephen's so easily vulnerable hands. "An inside job, at a time like this? It's making me regret I didn't activate the Last Dying Breath Protocol. A single Jericho missal would have done the job."

"I thought you didn't make weapons anymore." Frowned the doctor. Tony just chuckled bitterly.

"The Jericho uses many heavy or potentially poisonous and radioactive metals in its construction. None of that metal could be used safely for anything else, especially not long term, so I couldn't melt them and use the parts for something else. So I decided to keep them, for darker days. Turned out to be a good decision, if you ask me. Besides, something in me never allowed me to get rid of that. After New York, I've never been more glad to be the proud, sole owner of enough Jericho missals to sink Australia."

Stephen wasn't sure if that was more impressive or terrifying. "You think it could have been useful?"

"I thought about forming SWORD, a pandan to (New) SHIELD, mostly formed from the ex agents that now work for me. It would be a big space station that wouldn't monitor just Earth, but rather space and act as a first line of human defense. I would've given them all the Jericho missals I have left so they could protect our planet but I thought about just how many lives I would be sacrificing if I allowed that project to become a reality, so I scrapped it. Besides, I can just _hear_ how the governments of the world would react and what the rouges would say. I'd be too tempted to let them launch Rogers into deep space within a day."

"You're a saint. I'd have let them before the first hour was up." Strange deadpanned and was immensely glad when it resulted in a startled laugh from Tony, some of the tension leaving him. Stephen let him enjoy his mirth while he pondered the continued existence of what are the most powerful weapons Stark Industries had created while they were in the arms race. Perhaps using them could have changed some things but he doubted Tony'd let anyone other than JARVIS, FRIDAY or himself initiate that protocol. "Did your plan work?" At the confused glance, Stephen touched the side of Tony's temple with two scarred fingers. Tony understood and nodded, looking relieved.

"Yeah, I still got J and FRI with me, thank goodness for that. Space is really not my thing." Stephen said nothing and instead studied their interlocked hands. He didn't want to let go. "Did you see this? With the Time Stone, I mean?"

"It was one of the possibilities. It ended better than if we had stayed on Earth." The rouges could never agree or accept any of the plans and compromises Tony tried to make and so, when the Mad Titan himself landed on Earth, Iron Man was indeed killed by Thanos and the two Infinity Stones were almost handed over to him with how bad their fighting went. This was the better option, no matter how far away from home they were.

"So this was the only way? For us to win?" Stephen curls his free hand into a painful fist. Like always, Tony is spot on, without even realizing it. Sometimes, being a genius brought Tony more trouble than it eased things for him. But that was Tony Stark. The universe never gave him a break. "I'm glad. I'd rather not make another mess the size of New York or Sokovia. Or worse." Said man sighed and Stephen looked back at him. "Did I ever tell you the vision Maximoff showed me, three years ago?"

"You said you saw all the Avengers but you dead." They have had that conversation several times since they started actually openly _trusting_ each other. When they let it show that it was mutual. "And that Rogers, with his dying breath, asked you why you hadn't done more."

"That's right. What I never went into detail was that Thanos' army had come back to Earth, coming through a giant wormhole. I know Wanda is far from a prophet, but what if the Mind Stone itself was warning me?" Tony asked, meeting Stephen's eyes. There were so many questions in those hazel eyes and yet Stephen couldn't answer them without revealing just how deeply he looked into some of the futures. Glimpses for him did not mean the same thing to the Time Stone. Some things, it insisted on showing him itself. Other things he could not have brought himself to look away from. "I know it sounds crazy, but could it be true?"

Stephen said nothing for a while, thinking. There had to be a way to phrase this without revealing the things he had found out about regarding Tony and the Infinity Stones. That might reveal _his_ plans for the endgame and he knew Tony would not agree. And if Tony doesn't agree - which he won't - then he'll try to change things and _that_ will only end in a disaster that none of them can afford. So he thinks and thinks and for all of his brilliance, he can't think of a single way to express what he _knows_ is fact without somehow cluing Tony in on _what_ the endgame contains. He knows that Tony will take every hint and explore it, either on his own or by questioning him, and Stephen will eventually either relent or slip up. There was simply no way to tell Tony _why_ the Mind Stone might have taken it upon itself to give him a warning for what is to come without revealing what else the universe has had planned for both Tony and Thanos for a very long, _long_ time.

Luckily, Peter was done doing ... whatever it was that he had been doing and gad swung back to the two (five, if you count the two ever present AIs and the Cloak, even if they had been staying out of this discussion so far) of them, vibrating in his new armor like an over-excitable puppy with the biggest grin on his face that Stephen's ever seen on anyone. "Wow, Mr Stark! This suit is so _awesome_! KAREN and I just went over all the new features and those leg things are _awesome_ and all those new webs! Gosh, Mr Stark! I can't believe you did so much! This is so _cool_! Which alloy is this? Is this nanotech? Is _your_ armor nanotech? What's the formula you used for the webbing? Did you really read all my research on it?! Do you like it!? I know it's still a work in progres-" And Peter went on and on and would have never stopped had the two adults not chuckled at his antics. That shut him up and the boy crossed his arms, pouting.

"Relax, kid," Tony said in good humor, smiling with pride at his ward. "I was really impressed with your webbing formulas and the crazy ideas you have for them. I took the liberty of getting them patented for you. It's nothing public - that's up to you - but if anyone steals your idea, they'll get sued faster than you can say 'You've been _served_'. By the way, MJ? Freaking awesome, that kid. If you don't ask her out, I'm arranging your marriage and you can't stop me because that is one _hell_ of a girl and she'll become an even scarier woman. You don't get to mess that up. Capish?"

"Wha-?! Where'd this come from!?" The teen squeaked, face red. Stephen leaned back and watched the father-son back and forth, beyond amused. He liked MJ, too. The girl got spunk and a fire in her that she hid behind bland sarcasm and sharp wit. And she seemed to genuinely care for Peter and kept his identity safe - _how_ was it that only she seemed to figure it out when even Peter's best friend hadn't known until Peter practically dropped in on him as Spider-man? That girl was smarter than she let on. No wonder she caught Tony's attention - despite having had countless perfect opportunities to do so. She was the grounding presence her two nerdy friends needed since she had no heroworship for anyone, although she _did_ seem to favor him over most others, except maybe Hope out of all of the adults and maybe Susan. She was the no nonsense type of person so Stephen guessed that might be a part of it and she was interested in becoming a doctor ...

He shuddered at the thought of her and Christine teaming up. He'll rather face Thanos, thank you.

"You like her, she's not annoyed by you and she's cool about all this bullshit." Tony gestures between them all, indicating their superhero status. "And the way she told the rouges to stuff it? Gold. I want that in my family and since Harley's secretly crushing on Shuri, _you_ have to bring her in. No excuses, young man. Either grow balls to do it yourself or be prepared to get an invitation to your own wedding."

The Sorcerer Supreme didn't know whether he should laugh or be sympathetic at the red Peter's managed to achieve in his face. It raced down his neck and beneath the two suits he was currently wearing - the Iron Spider was a thing of beauty; Stephen had caught glimpses of it since he and Tony started working together on protecting their planet, but seeing it in action was definitely a treat - and his head looked ready to blow. How steam wasn't coming out of his ears, Strange will never know. He'll also never know whether it was from embarrassment at being called out on his crush or if it was a meltdown at finally realizing Tony indeed did see him as a son.

"Only if you let Mister Doctor Wizard take you out on a date!" Stephen lost all sympathy for Peter. He was a little too busy sputtering in indignation at the kid's gall to feel sympathetic for him. Especially since he was sure he actually _matched_ the boy's blush. How Peter managed to look challenging and still embarrassed as all hell was a trick Stephen would like to learn because, right now, _dear Vishanti_, he felt like letting the Dark Dimension swallow him and never coming back.

The Cloak was watching all of this with more interest than a piece of fabric should rightfully have.

"And how do you figure that?" Tony sounded strangely calm but his hand held a little more tightly on to Stephen's. The sorcerer was honestly surprised Tony hadn't wrenched his hand back after Peter's bold ... condition.

"Well, if _I_ have to make a fool of myself in front of my future spouse, shouldn't you, too?"

"So you _do_ admit that you'd like to marry her!" And Stephen had to admire the way Tony had, once again, deflected the situation back at Peter. But the boy was more singlemindedly bullish than Stephen had given him credit for.

"That's only because I know that once you get something into your head, you won't stop until you get it done." The usually-easily-flustered-around-Mr-Stark Parker stated boldly but with bravado. It was as though he was waiting for the other shoe to drop or to stuff his own foot into his mouth. "Which is why it surprises me that you and Mister Doctor are still not dating."

Ah, there it was.

Foot, meet mouth.

Peter should have stopped while he was still in the lead.

"_Excuse_ me," was the dangerous sounding response and the flustered Peter was back, while the Cloak perked up. Stephen wanted _really bad_ for the Dark Dimension to open up and swallow him.

"I didn't mean to say that!" Peter tried to save face but it was already too late.

"KAREN, put a lock on his play list and all the games I had installed in that suit. Spiderling's grounded."

"No~!" Bemoaned Peter his fate as KAREN cheerfully conformed her Chief's orders. Tony sniggered at how Peter then proceeded to make dramatics with KAREN for taking Tony's side, to which she promptly reminded him that he was her creator while Peter was her charge. She was the Iron Spider's co-pilot and she had a hierarchy of command to listen and refer to, which included Tony, JARVIS, FRIDAY, Vision, VERONICA, Pepper Potts, JOCASTA, Happy, Rhodey, Carol and Stephen himself in front of Peter. The resulting sulking episode only had Tony laughing louder and leaning against him as he tried to control his breathing.

And despite the mortified embarrassment that still covered his pale cheeks a lovely pink color, Stephen found a wonderful warmth filling him, spreading from his chest outwards to the rest of his body. As he listened to Tony ribbing Peter, JARVIS, FRIDAY and KAREN occasionally pipping in with comments of their own and the Cloak of Levitation fluttering around them all, he couldn't help but memorize this moment and lock it away in his heart for the dark times that are coming. Because he can't remember the last time he felt this content. It was like having a family again.

He wished, for one very tempting moment, that he could freeze time, just so he could enjoy it, just to make it last a little bit longer, perhaps even eternity.

Recalling a small, calloused, delicate but strong hand in his own as one moment was being stretched into infinitely smaller ones while snow fell and lightning lit up the sky in slow motion stopped him.

_"It's not about you."_

So, instead, he treasured this moment and squeezed the hand in his.

After all, it will be a while before he can hold it again.


	34. Chapter 34

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

Vision felt tired. He had never felt this tired before, or at least he thinks he hadn't.

Perhaps in those first few days after the Civil War, when he held vigil over the prone form of his creator (_father_) in a bland, white hospital room with instruments and heavy breathing being the only thing to fill in the silence that had never felt as oppressive as when Tony Stark was not awake to fill it with noise. When he had to watch the recently recovered enough to roll around in a wheelchair Colonel Rhodes would come in with Ms Potts and Mr Hogan and he'd have to step aside to let them see their friend, so unnaturally still and silent, so small without his overwhelming personality to fill in the room.

Or perhaps it had been after Tony woke up and Vision was forced to watch the man run himself into the ground when he saw how much work he had to do. The braces for the Colonel were the first things to go. They got updated twenty times in the first week Tony Stark was up and about. Then Vision had eagerly helped Tony and FRIDAY melt the Vibranium shield Howard Stark had made, remodeling most of it into Tony's new sternum. Vision wasn't sure what Tony did with the remaining twelve grams of the stuff but it was gone a few days later, just when the sternum and Tony himself were ready for the operation. The Arc Reactor looked like a whole brand new design and something in Vision's mind kept pondering about it but he didn't dare ask.

Or maybe he had felt this tired when Tony was no longer around the Compound every day, taking care of the relief efforts, renegotiating the Accords, making deals with the UN and debating returning to Stark Tower instead of living in the Avengers Compound. Vision hadn't known what to do then. All he knew was put into question and the only grounding force he had was Tony Stark and the mechanical family he had made for himself. They should have been _Vision's_ family, but Vision had always been too ... _enchanted_ by Wanda and her powers, so similar to his, to bother much with Tony. The urge was always there, but Tony had been unable to be around him at first due to his voice and what had been a side effect of his birth and that had _hurt_. Then all of _that_ had happened, the aptly named Civil War, and Vision was reminded he was technically still just a child and that he should be _allowed_ to cling to his parent. JARVIS, Ultron, Dr Cho or Dr Banner never quite felt like that but Mr Stark always had. Maybe it had been that part of him that had held JARVIS' code that always suggested as much - a sobering thought that had often kept him from finding out the true answer behind such a question - but Vision had never before wanted to view it as such as the weeks following the Civil War. He had been contemplating going out into the world, to try and find his place in it, but Tony had seemingly anticipated that and had drawn him into his business as well, to ground him, like Vision had needed.

Vision wasn't sure if he had been this tired when the news of the pardons reached them and he had to deal with both his own anxiety at having to face Wanda again as well as the stress the return was causing Tony. Or if it was during that first meeting when Doctor Strange first entered their lives, when the one grounding point that made Vision feel _solid_ and _real_ and _tangible_ was suddenly taken away to unknown places.

He definitely knew that returning JARVIS to their creator hadn't left him tired.

But the situation before him now? It was _exhausting_. The Accords didn't want to let the rouges have free reign over their actions, even though VERONICA had delivered Tony's last message and instructions to them. Vision wanted to just do as his creator had said and get to Wakanda, to Shuri, who is the only one besides Tony who can remove the Mind Stone from his forehead without needing to put him under - to _shut him down_, as Captain Rogers so carelessly stated - for the procedure. Dr Banner was unaware that the Mind Stone was no more than an ordinary power source by now, that Vision had an inactive Arc Reactor built into him by Tony's nanobots that will start working should he ever lose the Mind Stone. The man meant well, but he wasn't really helping the situation.

"We gotta assume they're coming back, right?" Rhodes asked as they all sat in for a meeting at the Avengers Compound. The man, now being the SIC of the Avengers, looked as haunted as Ms Potts, Mr Hogan, Mrs Parker or Harley, all of them as worried sick as Vision himself at what might have happened to Tony. The only thing keeping them all from freaking out or having a nervous breakdown was the fact that Tony Stark always seemed to defy death, always seemed to do the impossible, to _come back_.

It wasn't enough to let them calm down, though.

"And they can clearly find us," Carol threw in, running a hand through her blond hair. "That's gonna be a pain to deal with. If we can't hide, we can't protect the stone."

"Let's not forget that the shielding had an unexpected failing." Richards groused, still disbelieving that all of their hard work had been seemingly for naught. "It still won't work. It's as if something is blocking the signal or something. JOCASTA informed me that VERONICA was trying to get to the bottom of it, but something is clearly wrong here."

"Those shields were _never_ supposed to fail." Susan Storm commented, the Invisible Woman's head buried in the readings VERONICA had sent from the orbit. "Everything _works_. Nothing is broken or damaged and yet, for some reason, the transmitters can't send out a signal to reactivate the shield. We're wide open for an attack."

"That's unlike Tony." Barton,whom Vision was still uneasy around since he had been there _that night_ when Wanda had sent him through several floors of the Compound just before the fight at Leipzig, said, crossing his arms. The archer was standing with the New Avengers, not even looking at his old team. He and Lang had made their choice and they stood by it. "It doesn't make any sense. Stark tech _never_ fails. And Tony would never risk it with something this important."

"Maybe it's those new calibrations they'd made for stopping light-speed travelers from breaking through the shields?" Ant Man suggested but even he sounded like he doubted the very idea.

"Unlikely." Hope was to one to add to the conversation this time. "I've seen the work on those satellites. I'm no genius engineer but even I could tell, short of a nuclear nova explosion, those shields could hold up against anything. They can stand against an _Infinity Stone_. This should not have happened."

"It doesn't matter." Vision grit his teeth when Steve Rogers said that. "The shields were a failure but technology was never going to win us this war. Soldier were. Like always."

Bruce let out a bitter chuckle. "Those shields would have _prevented_ a war before it could _start_, Rogers."

"Whenever someone tried to stop a war before it began, innocent people _died_." Maybe it was the way he said it or the words themselves, but, for some reason, Barton's and Rhodes' faces became hard as stone. Vision took that as his cue to remind them that someone here _did_ have some sort of plan and that they were on the clock.

"No. Innocent people die when soldiers go and mess with their general's plans, Captain." He looked Rogers in the eyes to convey to the man what he was talking about. The Mind Stone whispered to him, whispered to him suspicions he could only half make out. It didn't bother to elaborate, too busy whispering about something else - the coming of Thanos - and _demanding_ some_one_ else. He couldn't focus on it all and he didn't want to believe that someone would be so stupid as to ... do _that_ just to prove to themsellf that they are right. "But that doesn't matter right now."

"Vision's right." Banner interjected before the blond man could protest or say anything else. "Thanos has the biggest army in the _universe_, even with the chunk Tony blew up during the Battle of New York. And he is not gonna stop until he gets ... " He trails off and looks towards the red android. "Vision's Stone."

"Well then, we have to protect it." Black Widow said so casually that Vision briefly wondered if she even understood the numbers they were working with. This is not a game. This is real. There are no do overs.

"No, we have to destroy it." They all looked up, baffled, at Rogers. The New Avengers - save Barton and Lang, who hadn't been there for that discussion - looked incredulous, as they _knew_ what destroying a _single_ Infinity Stone might lead to. Doctor Strange had been very clear on the fact that _that_ might bring about a greater disbalance to the universe than whatever Thanos might do with all six. Not to mention just how fruitless of an endeavor it was. As long as the other Stones existed, especially the Time Stone, whatever lone Stone was destroyed could be brought back. "I've been thinking."

"Oh god." Vision tried not to laugh at Logan's long suffering sigh and eye roll. Barton didn't bother. Neither did Jessica or Logan's daughter, Laura. Or Johnny Storm. Or Magneto. Yes, it _was_ a very big meeting. Vision figured only King T'Challa, Princess Shuri, all of the Inhumans and some of the X-Men, the Young Avengers and Wong were not present for the meeting. Wong had to protect the Sanctum. Some of the X-Men had to stay behind at the school with the kids. The Young Avengers were to stay with the non super heroes in the practically indestructible bunker beneath the Compound. The Inhumans were having some of their own trouble that the Black Bolt's associates were not able to disclose to anyone but Anthony Stark. Shuri and T'Challa were in Wakanda, preparing for Vision's arrival. Everyone else was present and nearly everyone rolled their eyes at Rogers' last sentence, making their stances clear.

He ignored them. "After all those meetings with Tony and Strange, I think I understood it right that the Infinity Stones can be ... influenced or canceled out by an energy source similar to the energy they create?"

"Tony's and Selvig's hypothesis, yes," Richards confirmed warily, not sure where the supersoldier was going with this.

"So if a similar energy interacts with an Infinity Stone, it can affect it?"

"It's a dumbed down version of the greatest breakthrough where the study of the Infinity Stones is concerned, but yes, that's what happens." Susan replied this time, looking up from the information she'd been going through. "It's why every satellite in our network for the shield has an Arc Reactor. It emits an energy signature almost identical to an Infinity Stone and can, indeed, cancel out or influence an Infinity Stone's power. It's what we're relying on to actually _stop_ the wormholes from appearing right over our heads. Or at least we _were_ until the shields suddenly malfunctioned."

"Then that sort of energy might be able to destroy an Infinity Stone as well, right?" That gave everyone pause, considering the suggestion, before they all turned to look at either Banner or Richards. Neither scientist looked comfortable under the attention. "Bruce, did I guess it right?"

"Look at you, man," Wilson commented, patting Rogers on the shoulder with an impressed smile. "You're a real rocket scientist. I bet not even Stark thought that up."

"Actually," Reed interrupted their little preening moment or whatever it was. "Tony was well aware of this fact. The possibility of destroying an Infinity Stone, that is."

"It's just that Strange was nice enough to inform us of how dangerous and useless such a pursuit is." Rhodey finished, regarding the supersoldier with a look of disdain. "The only Stone in our possession that we can destroy now is the Mind Stone, and only Wanda can do it. But it's fruitless. Even if we destroy the Stone, if Thanos gets his hands on the Time Stone, than he can easily reverse time itself and bring it back."

"Tony's smart enough. He'll manage to convince Strange to destroy the Time Stone."

"The sorcerers of Kamar-Taj," Iron Fist, Danny Rand, spoke up, his voice deadly serious and not at all the friendly tone he usually uses. "Swore an oath. To protect the Time Stone with their lives. Tony respects that and he won't try to force or trick Stephen into doing it."

"Not to mention that, while all the other Stones _can_ be destroyed, Time _can't_." At the look he was getting, Vision wanted to bang his head on the nearest hard surface. "Think of it like this, Captain Rogers. The only reason Ms Maximoff can destroy the Mind Stone is because her power originates from it. Her power's energy signature is close enough to the Mind Stone's, so she could potentially destroy it. The sorcerer's of Kamar-Taj would also be able to destroy any of the Infinity Stones; Power, Mind, Space, Reality, even Soul. Because they have _spells_ that cover _all_ of those fields and they would only need to find a way to integrate said spells with the Arc Reactor's energy. Which, as Tony and Doctor Strange have experimented once, is actually pretty easy. But time magic is nonexistent without the Eye of Agamotto, which houses the Time Stone itself. There is no such thing that can make the Time Stone implode in on itself."

"Not to mention that that could cause a ripple through the time-space continuum." Richards, again, interjected. "We're better off not thinking about destroying forces as old as the universe itself, if not older."

"That doesn't change the fact that it's our best option." Captain America still insisted. "If not in stopping Thanos, than at least at slowing him down enough to find a better solution. Can't the wizards transfer it to some other dimension or something?"

"That would have been a viable solution had Thanos not gotten his hands on the Space Stone." Bruce pointed out and Wanda snorted.

"That's what we get for trusting Stark to take care of an Infinity Stone. He probably told Loki to hand it over on purpose. Snake bastards stick together, after all."

"Oh, I _dare_ you to say that to Thor's face." Bruce growled, his eyes turning green.

"Or Stephen's." At the confused looks everyone gave Carol, she flashed them a predatory grin. "He'll feed you to that demon Dormammu for ever badmouthing Tony like that. I'll be sure to get the popcorn while I watch."

"I'm not afraid of that would be magician." Wanda hissed but before the two enhanced women could get into a 'cat fight', Vision believed was the term, Rogers interjected again.

"Stop. We have to stop fighting at some point. We're all Avengers now. Earth just lost her best defender and will need us to protect her." He looked to Vision again, looking apologetic. "Eliminating the Stone is the only way to be certain Thanos can't get to it, even if for a while."

"That's too high a price," Wanda immediately protested and that would have once warmed Vision's ... 'heart', he guessed. But Doctor Strange had hypothesized that destroying the Mind Stone might rob Wanda of her powers and now Vision couldn't help but wonder if she, on some instinctual level, knew that and was trying to save her powers.

"Only you can pay it. Thanos threatens half of the universe. One life can't stand in the way of defeating him. It should," the blond looked almost pained as he said it and Scarlet Witch was looking at him with disgust and betrayal. "But it can't."

"Maybe it doesn't _have_ to." Bruce speaks up again, looking elated. "Vision, your mind is made up of a complex construct of overlays. JARVIS, Ultron, me, Tony, the Mind Stone. All of them mixed together. All of them learning from one another."

"You're saying Vision isn't just the Stone?" A hopeful Wanda asks but Vision snorts - that's a first - before Bruce can continue.

"Dr Banner, I am well aware of that. My creator has already ensured that I can remove the Mind Stone and JARVIS both from myself without the rest of that construct falling apart. If any of you had just _listened_, I could have told you that and we could have been on our way to Wakanda by now, where Princess Shuri awaits." At the looks he was getting, he shakes his head. He can do no more. He _still_ couldn't believe those aliens had a weapon that can affect his body even when he was phasing. "I guess that's just the destiny of us Starks. No one ever bothers to listen until it is too late."

"What do you mean?" Banner asks, intrigued, as always, by Tony's ideas and solutions.

"You're not a Stark." Wanda rebuffed and Vision wondered if he should just roll his eyes like normal humans always do. JARVIS had many times had that urge, even without _having_ actual eyes.

"Yes, I am. I even have a birth certificate that says so. And Tony, with the assistance of Doctor Strange and the Time Stone, managed to speed up time until such a point where removing either the Mind Stone or JARVIS won't result in something happening to my personality core. He had built a device that can sever the Stone from all two trillion plus neurons and he gave," he took a shuddering breath. This was only the second time he had ever been injured so please give him a break. "The schematics to Princess Shuri. She already had something that can similarly do the job so I think she just made some ... modifications. They both got too excited about it at that point and started speaking Wakandan-"

"Tony knows Wakandan?" Came the shocked reaction from the rouges, Barton and Lang. The New Avengers, Defenders, mutants and the Fantastic Four were more like " So _that's_ that strange language he's been talking in!"

Vision shrugged. "He started learning when he first worked with King T'Chaka and then continued as much as he could on his own. Princess Shuri took it upon herself to linguistically and grammatically fully educate him in the language after she declared herself Tony's first female protégé. She, Harley and Peter were more often than not fighting for his attention when she was here. She still manages, even over holochats."

"Holochats?"

Vision didn't even bother answering Rogers, instead turning to Carol, since she was the leader now, in the absence of Iron Man. "Tony has left me with instructions to go to Wakanda, both because Shuri can remove the Mind Stone and because their shields can hold out against anything Thanos might throw at us. King T'Challa already knows that, should it come to this, he will be leading the fight. Wakanda is ready. We need to go there as soon as possible."

The blond woman nodded, understanding the severity of the situation. "We trust Tony. He knows what he's doing. He's been preparing for this longer than we know of the threat. So, who's staying here?"

"Lang and I are looking after the Compound." Barton was the first to answer, Ant Man nodding his agreement. "That Chinese guy is staying in that sacred haunted house thing."

"The Sanctum," Bruce muttered but was ignored.

"We'll keep an eye on New York," Daredevil reassured, his team nodding. "We can hold the fort at Stark Tower."

"We'll keep the Tower," Reed interrupted. "You keep the streets clean. We don't need civilians running around when there might be an alien invasion coming. Besides, I'll need Tony's computers to try and get to the bottom of this. That failure shouldn't have happened. The shields _held_. And they weren't attacked, either. It was as though it were never _there_. Tony would want me to figure it out and possibly find a way to fix it." The Defenders nodded at that, knowing they would be of little help in that regard.

"We'll keep in contact." Rhodes assured and Vision watched with a sense of dread as the mutants informed them that they had to return to the school. He couldn't _believe_ that it took them less then an hour to undo everything Tony had worked towards for _months_. They were breaking apart. Not like the original Avengers had, but they were all going their own ways, doing their own thing. It felt like Tony's hard work was being torn at the seams and they didn't care two shits that they were ruining it.

Still, he knew they had to cover several locations at once. It was the reason why Tony had insisted on several teams instead of just one. They were needed in more places than one and they can't afford to leave any of those places unprotected. This was where Tony's brilliance really shone through. He had planned for such a situation and they were now prepared for it because _he_ had been ready for it. Vision will have proper protection while New York still stayed relatively safe should the aliens decide to return there of all places. And the Sanctum, which _had_ to be protected, will be.

That didn't change the fact that Vision wished his creator was still on Earth. It didn't change the fact that Earth was left without its best defender. And it definitely didn't change the fact that he, Colonel Rhodes, Major Danvers and Dr Banner were all extremely uncomfortable to be sitting in the same Quinjet as the Winter Soldier, the Black Widow, the Scarlet Witch, Falcon and Captain America. It didn't change the fact that Dum-E, U, Butterfingers, JOCASTA, SARAH, VERONICA and he himself have lost three siblings and their creator to an unknown fate in space.

Vision just hoped Tony, Doctor Strange and Peter will return home.


	35. Chapter 35

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

Tony was the first to be alerted to their approach of Titan, as was expected of the man who had been using Extremis to study the ship since he and Peter had saved Stephen from Ebony Maw. He and his two AIs were so deep in the ship's systems that Tony had bragged to him that JARVIS and FRIDAY were starting to learn the language in which the code was written. It made sense that he would be the first to notice. Peter was the second to notice, his spider senses alerting him to the danger of the ship entering Titan's atmosphere at too high a speed for the ship, and them, to survive the impact. Stephen himself only got a warning when those two became tense.

"Hey, what's going on?" Peter was the first to ask, looking to his mentor for an explanation. He may be aware of the danger but his spidey senses weren't all knowing or anything. He knew something was happening but he wasn't sure what.

"I think we're here." Stephen was the one to answer, watching their rapid descent towards the surface of the orange planet. He was already preparing his magic to draw a shield around them. This looked like it was going to be a rough landing.

As if reading his mind, Tony went over to the controls, armoring up and sticking one hand into the right hand hold of the controls. "I don't think this thing has a self-park function." His eyes had been blazing electric blue before the armor closed around him. "Get your hand into this steering gimbal." Peter hurried to do as his mentor said, following Tony's urgent instructions. "Close those around it. You understand?"

"Yep, got it."

"This was made for one big guy so we have to move together, at the same time. JARVIS and FRIDAY can handle only so much with so limited coding resources on this thing. We gotta land this flying space donut. Gently and intact, if possible." Tony continued, sounding a lot calmer than he probably felt and Stephen felt impressed. He was keeping it together only due to his many years as a doctor who wasn't _allowed_ to let emotions influence his actions during a surgery. Tony must have had practice in front of the press that followed him his whole life.

"Okay. Okay," Peter took deep breaths before nodding to his mentor just as they broke through the atmosphere, for the first time having a clear view of the planet before them. "Ready." On the monitoring screen in front of them, they can see that their 'space donut' was heading straight for some strange buildings that looked a hell of a lot like a colossal game of jacks and slight panic entered Peter's voice. "Uh, we might wanna turn. Turn. Turn! _Turn_!" KAREN must have decided to throw up Peter's helmet, because his head was covered seconds before their ship almost clipped one of those star shaped things. JARVIS and FRIDAY were giving it their all to help with the engines but the controls weren't cooperating with Tony and Peter. Iron Man and Spider-man both had considerable strength, both of them being (partially) enhanced, but the ship was stuck on autopilot or whatever and even Tony and his two AIs were having trouble disabling that and activating the landing protocols.

"Strange, a little help here!" Stark said with a strained voice. Stephen was ready, already stepping in between them and weaving his hands around, creating the Shield of Seraphim around them. Should they crash and burn, this spell will save them the consequences. Just as he was anticipating a rough landing, the ship's flight smoothed out, much to the surprise of Peter and himself. "Hey! I think I'm getting a hand at this. More thrust, J. Find us a landing spot, baby girl. Peter, let's bring this thing's ... frontal should-be-a-nose thingamabob. Doc, you do what you do and hold on tight. We're about to land this donut!"

Stephen could only shake his head and keep up the shield, all three of them doing their best to keep their footing as the ship swerved a few times and clipped a few of those giant metal star things before FRIDAY started guiding them towards an open spot where they could land the ship. Tony and Peter pulled with all of their might and managed to bring up the ship like one would a plane, JARVIS controlling the speed of the engines and KAREN reading off the distance and other such data since her older AI siblings were too busy trying to steer the ship with the minimal amount of code available to them. The landing was rougher than the ship should have to handle, but the thing held and it was nowhere _near_ how bad it could have been had Tony not had JARVIS, FRIDAY and Extremis in his veins to help them land the thing. This way, they had a means of going back home unless the thing was destroyed in the battle to come. They could always open a portal, but the strain on the body that would cause could land Stephen in a come and Tony in the grave if either of them were to try it. Especially not after a fight. That was bound to exhaust them both beyond the needed energy levels for such a feat.

The landing might have been safe, but there was suddenly a boom and the corridors above and bellow them suddenly shook, giving out on them. Tony flinched back from the steering 'wheel', the perfectly normally working circuit of the ship suddenly snapping and stopping, throwing him out. A few more booms followed before the bridge, with an ominous groan that spoke of nothing but trouble, detached itself from the ship. Peter screamed as gravity took them but Stephen still, thankfully, had the Shield of Seraphim out. The glowing sphere of golden magic did it's job and kept them safe as the entire bridge crashed down onto the dirt, banging up the heroes within. The donut that now had a chunk bitten out of it crashed sideways, obliterating something that might have been a building at some point, raising a dust cloud so thick, it would have been nearly impossible to breathe for the humans. Thankfully, only a little bit of it made it into the ruined bridge and the Shield of Seraphim also further filtered it. Tony and Peter would have probably been fine, their suits filtered the air, but Stephen could have been in trouble.

Instead, they weren't even any dirtier than they were before the landing procedure. Stephen got up from where he had been holding the shield and made his way to Tony, helping him up. "You okay?" He asked, his eyes flitting over the suit and the now unmasked face. Tony didn't look any more banged up than before but the armor was self regenerating. The sorcerer briefly wondered just how many nanobots and extra nanobots (for emergency's sake) Iron Man armor Mark L before he shook that thought away and focused on its creator.

Tony was panting, just like him, both from adrenaline and the effort he had put into the landing. His eyes were alight with a dozen different emotions, the excitement from a moment ago and the adrenaline still coursing through his blood making them glint. He looked over Stephen, too, absently nodding, dismissing Stephen's worry. "You alright? That was close. I owe you one."

"Think nothing of it." Strange reassured, about to ask what had happened when Peter descended from above - how the roof of the chamber even held was a question of structurality that Stephen will have to ask Tony later to explain as it made _no sense_ \- in the classical Spider-man, fashion, hanging upside down from a thread of his webbing. The two adults stare incredulously at him, because _seriously_? Is there any need for that?

"Let me just say, if aliens wind up implanting eggs in my chest or something, and I end up eating you, I'm sorry." Yeah, forget the hanging upside down thing. Stephen groans at the reference while Tony actually starts looking a little pissed. It was the stress, fraying him at his edges, but still. Stephen completely agrees with his response of "I don't wanna hear _another _single pop culture out of you for the rest of the trip. You understand?" Peter at least looks rightfully sheepish at that. Still, he continues and Stephen wants to groan again that he hadn't started with this. "I'm trying to say that... something is coming."

As if summoned by his sheepish warning/explanation, a grenade rolls into their view, at their feet, and Peter, Strange and Tony get thrown well back when it fires its energy pulse. Which is when things got crazy, since the Guardians of the Galaxy just barged in, guns blazing - sort of - without even checking out who they were supposedly fighting. Drax's yell of "THANOS!" had the Cloak charging at him, Stephen just stopping several daggers from killing him by activating a mandala shield. A little fight ensues, with magnets, guns, Tony's impressive missals, Spider-man's webbing and then it all comes to a standstill when Tony has Drax on his back with a repulsor pointed at his head, Stephen and the Cloak watching his back, and Starlord has Peter all tied up and a gun pointed at his head, Mantis tied up in a web behind him.

Which is when they all register just who they are fighting. Rather, the Guardians realize they had attacked three Avengers, far from home as they might be. Quill looks crestfallen. "Where's Gamora?"

"How are we supposed to know?" Stark asks, turning his repulsor into a cannon when Drax tried to pull a fast one on him. "You mind letting the kid go or do I need to threaten your buddy here?"

"Ignore him, Quill! I can take it." Drax says, completely and misguidedly confident that a Stark made proton cannon's blast won't obliterate his head. Stephen may not know just what species Drax is and how much his physiology can actually take, but Mantis gave him enough confirmation that he had assumed right.

"No he can't take it!"

"She's right, you can't," the resident doctor decides to make an appearance in Strange and deadpans as he informs the remaining green alien. He tries not to think of Gamora and where she might be if Quill is this pissed.

"That's fine. You don't even work for Thanos, anyway. We're allies." Peter the elder lets go of Peter the kid and Tony in turn let's Drax get up, who glares at Mantis but relatively quickly gets away from Tony and his very intimidating cannon. After checking over the teenager, Tony turns around and heads out of the now destroyed bridge of what used to be a perfectly good ship, giving Quill a stink eye for that which made the half human a bit sheepish, coming out onto the soil of Titan for the first time. "The heck happened to this planet? It's eight degrees off its axis. Gravitational pull is all over the place."

Stephen glances at Quill from where he had been studying Tony studying Titan, no doubt his own instruments giving him tons of information. Starlord had a small, pen like device that apparently measured the gravitational pull of the planet and was frowning as he looked around the planet. Stephen tried not to let his own looking-into-the-future-acquired memories get to him as he saw Tony silhouetted in the orange, sickly lighting of the practically dying planet. Now was not the time for him to freak out. He'd managed not to do it many a times throughout this trip, he'll just have to hold out for a while longer.

Yes, he had seen it all happen upfront and had known what he will face, but experiencing it firsthand was not at all pleasant.

He'd dealt with months of repressed nightmares and PTSD inducing memories after he had seen the future with the help of the Time Stone. There were so many things that had happened in those fourteen million six hundred and five futures that he had viewed from this point in time alone, let's not even go into the things that could have happened before Thanos arrived. It would be enough to give anyone nightmares for life, but meditation helped, most days, and on the days that it felt like it wasn't enough, he'd just follow Tony around, either in astral form or his own body. Tony was the key and as long as he was alive, Stephen had known there was hope, a chance, for the greater victory that will end with universe-wide peace and happiness, no matter how temporary.

He left Tony and Peter to deal with the three Guardians of the Galaxy, mostly ignoring them as he fount a place to sit down. He crossed his legs in the traditional meditating pose and first got a feel of the place. The energy flowed here differently from Earth or from the vastness of space, like when they had been on the now scrapped space ship. He'll need to be in tune with it to better draw upon interdimensional energy without disturbing the natural flaw here. It will be easier that way and safer. It took him longer than he expected, but he attributed that to the devastation this planet has faced.

But after he had a good feel on the planet, he drew on his magic and opened the Eye of Agamotto. He'd glimpsed fourteen million six hundred and five futures but, when he'd been watching the future, he had realized he'd have to watch them all over again because that hadn't been _glimpsing_, it had been _watching_, _studying _for _details_. Which is why he was accessing the same futures again, letting the Time Stone show him _everything_.

The first future he saw showed Thanos arriving through a wormhole-like portal, as blue as the Tesseract and the Space Stone inside. They had been waiting for him, just behind a bolder and they had jumped out at him, half of them tackling the hand with the Gauntlet, the other half trying to kill him. Not coordinated at all. Thanos crushed Mantis' skull under his foot, choked Quill, shot Stephen himself with Quill's gun, broke Drax's neck, broke Peter's skull with his bare hand before obliterating an enraged Tony with the Power Stone. He destroyed the Eye of Agamotto and took the Time Stone, went to Earth and yanked the Mind Stone out of Vision's forehead, snapping his fingers and wiping out half of the universe.

Stephen flinched away from that future as soon as he could and continued screening the other futures until he came upon one with a wholly different plan and not just small details differing that only extended Tony's life for a few seconds. This time, Tony met Thanos in the open when the Titan exited the portal onto his home planet. The sight of him had Thanos stopping in his tracks before he launched himself at Iron Man with the single-minded intent to kill him. The rest reacted too slowly, especially when Thanos used the Reality Stone to reduce them to ribbons, but the fight between them was spectacular, to say the least. Tony held his own for a long while before Thanos ripped off the Arc Reactor and used the Power Stone to kill the genius. In comparison to his duel with Iron Man, Thanos made quick work of everyone but Stephen, who held his own almost as long as Tony had but he was defeated in the end. Thanos left for Earth and the snap happened anyway. The last thing the Stephen of that future saw was Stark's corpse, a huge hole in his chest from where Thanos had blasted him with the Power Stone.

The next few futures were variants of that one before he came upon one where he himself simply left Titan, running with the Time Stone. He hid at the edges of the universe as it trembled from the injustices Thanos bestowed upon it. He hid for years, resorting to drawing energy from the Dark Dimension to keep himself alive and strong enough for when the day comes that the Titan comes for him. In some futures, he didn't and when Thanos came, he crushed Stephen's frail old body with a single fist. Other times he did and Thanos actually had to work to defeat him. In one, he had even given himself over to Dormmamu and he unleashed him on Thanos, but also the universe as well and he hadn't cared. Another time, he had won and had the Gauntlet in his hands. He added the Time Stone and the power of all six Infinity Stones drove him mad and he destroyed the universe instead of saving it.

When Thanos came to him, only once, with Tony's skull - and he could _feel _it was Tony and not someone else - in hand and crushed it before his eyes, Stephen had broken down and not even fought.

Running was not an option. He could see now why he had discarded it.

By the time he had viewed ten million futures, he was already so, so tired. He watched, over and over again, how his friends fought and how they died. Once, Stephen opened a portal back to Earth in the middle of the fight and dragged the Guardians, Peter and Tony through it, staying behind to fight Thanos by himself, unleashing some of the scariest dimensions on the Mad Titan, destroying the desolate planet in the process, but when the fight was over and he was exhausted while the purple giant had protected himself by using the Infinity Stones he had in his possession, Thanos simply choked him to death and then went to Earth. Rogers and Tony had tried working together, but when the decision between the Mind Stone and Tony's life was to be made, Rogers all but threw Tony under the Mad Titan, dooming the universe when Thanos used the Time Stone to age Tony out of existence.

More than once, Stephen had brought them all back to Earth, hoping the big team Tony had formed would be able to help. Sometimes, they were all there to answer the call. Most often, though, it was only the rouges, Rhodes and Carol and Black Panther, in Wakanda, and none of them fought to save Tony's life. Vision tried but he was killed before his creator's eyes. In those futures, where they brought the fight back to Earth, once he killed Tony, Thanos would crucify Stark's body and use it as a banner for his army, a taunt. It demoralized more than just Stephen, more than he had expected. Earth's mightiest heroes raged and they all died, the last two Infinity Stones ending up in Thanos' possession and the universe halving itself with the snap.

Future fourteen million six hundred and three nearly broke Stephen, when Thanos went back to Earth instead of going to Titan first, bringing back to Titan Vision's broken body and letting Tony see, through the wormhole that gave him nightmares for six years, the vision that had been plaguing him for half as much time. The Avengers, old and New and Young, official or a team for itself, all dead. Earth, ten times more devastated than Titan, the rest of Thanos' army destroying the planet until there was not enough mass to hold the moon in it's orbit. No life on Earth at all. The Mad Titan then trapped Tony with the Mind Stone and made him kill the Guardians, kill Peter, fight Stephen. Then released him and let him see what he had done. Stephen, bloody and immobile, would have to watch as Tony broke down and took his own life while the Time Stone was being ripped off of his slowly cooling body.

Fourteen million six hundred and four actually broke something in Stephen when he was forced to watch glowing Tesseract blue - so unlike the Arc Reactor blues when Tony was using Extremis - fade to brown as his magical saber penetrated Tony's heart. Brown eyes full of pain and desperation and guilt and sadness and relief and gratitude as they grew dimmer and more glassy by the second. Stephen simply gave up the Time Stone of his own free will, clinging to a cooling, bleeding corpse as he broke down on Titan, not even caring for the snap.

For a moment there, Stephen started to panic. Had his tempering with the timeline changed it so much that there was now no future in which they won? Sure, the fourteen million six hundred and fifth started off promising enough, with the plan Stephen was vaguely aware of Tony and Quill making right there, a few feet away from him, but then Quill lost it - like every other time he learned about Gamora's death - and Thanos floored them all and then he was fighting Tony - Tony, brilliant, magnificent, determined, stubborn Tony - and Stark was holding his own and then Thanos stabbed him in the gut, all the way through. He raised his Gauntleted wrist and prepared to kill Tony and that's when the moment of clarity hit Stephen and it all finally made sense.

"Strange! We alright?" He hears, as though under water and far away, but then the Time Stone, deeming he had seen what must be seen and that he understood what must be understood, stopped glowing and closed the Eye of Agamotto around itself. Strange snaps out of his trance and falls forward, letting out a cry. Metal clad hands caught him before he could topple over, his backside already hurting from hitting the rock floor below, but that's a small discomfort compared to how fast his heart was racing, almost bruisingly hard against his ribcage. The fourteen million plus futures were still running through his head, before his eyes but there was something grounding him and he knew what - _who _\- it was and he _wanted _to _see _him. "You're back. You're alright."

Stephen relaxed a little at Tony's voice, resisting the urge to lean over and hug him. He can't. Not now. It's not about him, he can't take that comfort now or he might tip Tony off to something. Instead, he simply enjoyed feeling Tony's armored hands - armored, _protected_, _safe _as safe can be right now - holding him steady as he regained his breath.

"Hey, what was that?" Peter Parker asked a few paces behind his mentor, where he was standing next to the perplexed Guardians of the Galaxy, all of them watching Stephen with worry and a bit weirded out by however he must have looked like while viewing the future. Wong had told him it looked a bit sick when he had asked the last time since Wong had been asking about his neck a lot.

"I went forward in time to view alternate futures. To see all the possible outcomes of the coming conflict."

"How many did you see?" The other Peter asked next. An expected question. One he didn't hesitate to answer.

"Fourteen million six hundred and five."

"How many did we win?" It pained him to hear Tony ask, almost hopefully. Tony knew he had said there was only one way to better their chances of winning and so he was asking how much Stephen's interference had helped.

He wished he could say they had multiple ways to win, but he hadn't lied to Tony as of yet. Staring intently at him now let him know that now would be the worst time ever to start. He had Tony Stark's utter trust, something rare few could say they had and he refuses to ruin it. He won't waste it. He won't betray Tony with lies the way his old teammates had, the way the _other _Steven in his life had.

So he held Tony's gaze and took one last deep breath before telling the truth.

"One."


	36. Chapter 36

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

The plan had worked, that's all any of them could think as they had managed to trap Thanos, physically and mentally, Peter and Tony holding the Infinity Gauntlet, none of the Infinity Stones glowing, pulling as hard as either of them can, Strange using the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak to reinforce the trap's hold on Thanos's right hand, and the Cloak helping him pull. Drax had been holding his leg and Mantis was on his shoulders, putting him under with her powers. Quill and the new arrival, Gamora's adopted sister Nebula, standing in front of him. They had all thought "This is it. We made it. We won!"

But then Quill had asked after Gamora, Mantis said Thanos was in anguish and grieving and Nebula filled them in on where the Soul Stone must have been - Tony had the coordinates but never had the name, had the map to a place he had never imagined could hold something so important - how he had taken Gamora to Vormir but had returned without her, the Stone in his possession. Quill had snapped and attacked Thanos, dislodging Mantis and freeing the Mad Titan from the trance he had been under just when Peter managed to get the Gauntlet almost the whole way off.

But Thanos was awake and he shook them all off, taking back the Gauntlet. He had swatted Tony away and knocked the Guardians of the Galaxy unconscious when they jumped up and tried to charge at him again. Iron Man zooms back in, his nanite arm cannon manifested, and is head-butted to the ground.

Thanos looks at him for a beat, as if unsure of what to do, how to act, then raises the gauntlet towards Titan's moon. Stark stares, aghast, not able to believe his eyes or the readings he was getting from both of his AIs. Thanos uses a combination of the Power and Space Stones to shatter the moon's surface, then bring the debris down on the field of battle at and incredible speed. Iron Man powers out of the way, managing to avoid quite a bit of the debris, but is caught by a chunk of moon about the size of a baseball field, slamming him into the ground.

Thanos was almost sure the man was dead but there was something there that prevented him from relaxing. As if anyone could survive a moon slamming into them. The armored hero must be buried under tons of rock. The impact alone should have killed him.

The Guardians go sailing into the air from the rebound. The Guardians and Avengers are dealing with the gravitic aftermath of dumping a large chunk of moon onto an unstable planet's surface. The unconscious Guardians are flying upwards uncontrollably, moon-chunks are still making fiery ballistic inbounds, and random debris and massive rocks are floating in any possible direction. Spider-Man is well-equipped to handle this physically, even if he's freaking out emotionally. So Stephen leaves him to it.

There's an intergalactic grape asshole he needs to deal with right now.

The Cloak of Levitation sets Doctor Strange down on a relatively stable outcrop as Thanos extricates himself from rubble. The Sorceror Supreme makes a few passes with his hands, producing the familiar golden magic filigree circles, and slams his hands down on the rock before him, invoking the Seven Suns of Cinnibus as a lightning-like effect of immense heat jumping from rock to rock until it reaches Thanos, sending him flying - but he makes use of the erratic gravity to keep control and fire back a blast from the Power Stone.

Strange, ready because he had seen battles like this fourteen million six hundred and five times already, blocks the purple plume with a wall of Mirror Dimension, which he then pushes back at Thanos. It shatters around the Titan, who suctions the magic into a miniature black hole with the Space Stone, volleying it back at Strange. Just in time, Strange raises a shield and changes the dark energy into a swarm of aqua butterflies which return to their master. Thanos can't help but stare at them for a moment, entranced by their beauty, before he shakes it off and focuses back on the fight.

But because of that small moment of distraction, before Thanos can counterattack again, Strange levitates and invokes the Images of Ikonn, giving him arms like a Hindu deity before dozens of Strange replications rush away, forming a circular wall around a snarling Thanos. They all cast magical cords, wrapping around Thanos's torso, arms and hands, holding on the best they can. Thanos struggles to close his gauntleted fist, and uses the Soul and Power Stones to discover the real Strange among the many copies, blowing the duplicates away and sending the singular Strange reeling.

Reality and Space pull Strange forward, Thanos grasping him by the throat once in range. Strange grabs futilely at Thanos's hand. "You're full of tricks, wizard." He grabs hold of the necklace around Stephen's neck, crushing the fake Eye of Agamotto, despite Stephen's protests. "Yet you never once used your greatest weapon." He looks on in a disappointed manner at the sorcerer, as though a parent admonishing a child. "A fake." He throws Strange hard enough that Strange's head hits stone and he passes out. He's about to make a step towards the unconscious man when, almost simultaneously, a red and gold device slaps into the palm of the Infinity Gauntlet, bracing the fingers open; and a red and gold Avenger makes a fast and hard entrance, standing in front of the downed sorcerer like an avenging lioness.

Iron Man, Tony Stark, Avenger and Earth's best defender, was really just about done with the wrinkly purple giant grape. "You throw another moon at me, and I'm gonna to lose it."

Thanos would be lying if he didn't admit that the human sounded rather dangerous and intimidating when he talked like that. This was his opponent. The one man that had set back his plans for half a decade. The one man that had destroyed the entire Chitauri army, leaving Thanos with only the Outriders and his Black Order. Many of his fights for the Infinity Stones have led exactly to this one moment.

Even without him being able to use the Gauntlet and the Stones, he felt them warm for some reason, as though welcoming a long lost friend.

That only confused Thanos but he knew that the Infinity Stones had a conscious of their own. Perhaps Iron Man had the Time Stone? Guess he'll have to find out. "Stark."

That drew up Tony short, despite already having been told by Gamora that Thanos has known of him for as long as Tony has known about the approaching threat. Perhaps he had not wanted it to be true. "You know me?" He asks warily, just to make sure. He tries his best not to show just how much the notion of that terrifies him. Because they had obviously messed up the only future Stephen had seen in which they win. Maybe there was still time. Maybe Tony could change something, _do something_, to save them.

"I do." Thanos confirmed, admitting to something only his closest had known for six years. "You're not the only one cursed with knowledge." Stark was too much like him. They could have been rivals instead of enemies, maybe even friends, partners. Stark was the sort of man Thanos could respect. Too bad the universe had pitted them against each other. A shame. Thanos could just imagine how much faster all six Stones would have been reunited in the Gauntlet had they been working together towards the same goal.

Tony didn't agree. "My only curse is you." Small rockets pop out of Iron Man's back and launch at Thanos. Thanos' taunting "_**Come on!**_" was almost drowned out by the rockets all exploding on target, momentarily shrouding Thanos in smoke. Before it clears, Iron Man piledrives into Thanos horizontally, using his single super-jet boot configuration. As he bounces off, he flips and sticks his landing, immediately reconfiguring his boots into ground clamps for stability and his gloves into rocket-driven battering rams, punching Thanos into a ruined wall behind him. The Mad Titan grunt from the unexpected force of the attack and how effortlessly it had landed, even if he was only winded.

Thanos shakes it off quickly, reaches forward and tears Iron Man's helmet off, revealing Tony's surprised expression before the suit recovers automatically and re-forms his head protection, JARVIS and FRIDAY working overtime to protect their creator. The Titan makes use of the fractional delay and punches back hard, sending Iron Man sliding meters away, giving Thanos time to rip the brace device off the Gauntlet. The discarded nanites rush back to the Iron Man armor as the purple giant immediately uses the Power Stone to stream furiously lambent energy at his opponent, who forms a shield to kneel behind just as instantly, getting pushed back even further by the incredible force.

Tony has never been more thankful for Wong insisting he start his training when he had than he was then, as he formed a second shield with his free hand. Had he not been able to do that, he wouldn't have been able to slide out from behind the shield without the attack from the Power Stone doing some serious damage to his exposed, even momentarily, side, letting the angled energy push him away for a faster start, and whips back to Thanos at full thrusters capacity. The genius kicks at the Titan with his left foot, turning the boot into a ground clamp at the same time to pin the Gauntlet, and keeps twisting while his left glove becomes a ram again, slamming into Thanos's face, cutting his cheek.

Thanos is momentarily stunned. It has been ages, beyond decades, since he had been injured but he could feel very acutely the point where Stark had managed to land a blow. The cut burned. A reminder of Loki's dying words, 'You will never be a god.' He felt the first kindles of fear. He dared not look at Stark in that moment. The puny Earthling was living up to Thanos' expectations of the one man who had defeated his army, six years ago. He was living up to that long ago forged fear that this was the one person in the universe who would stand in the Titan's way and not lose, not die.

The thought is both sobering and enraging. This puny creature, to stand in the way of his conquest? Unforgivable. He swipes at the blood that wants to seep out of the wound and stares at it for a second. "All that for a drop of blood." He looks at Stark and smiles breifly before he punches Iron Man, sending him pinwheeling, then starts beating him with his fists. Tony attempts to block the blows with his forearms, but Thanos is relentless, picking him up by the helmet and blasting his midsection with the Power Stone. The gaps in nanite coverage are now gaping, as the armor loses the ability to recover from the intensity and extent of the damage, JARVIS staying with Tony while FRIDAY focuses on calling back as many of the nanobots as she can reach as fast as they can come back.

Iron Man lands hard from the Power Stone's blast, struggles to one knee and fires his right hand repulsor at the inexorable Thanos but the beam is easily deflected by the Gauntlet. He gets to both feet as the suit tries to complete repairs, nanobots rushing from all over the field, adding the beam from his left hand as well. Thanos walks right up to him, and backhands the incomplete helmet completely off Tony's head. His AIs are already panicking, forcing the suit beyond anything that they had tried before and Tony is too busy to activate Extremis, the fight too fast that he won't get those few seconds needed to adjust. He crosses his arms to block a blow from Thanos's Gauntlet, and has his left hand caught over his head.

In desperation, he forms what's left of his right glove into a shortsword, which is also easily caught by Thanos, snapping it off clean and making to drive it through Tony's middle, but FRIDAY reacts faster, dissolving it back into the armor. It blocks most of the power behind Thanos' thrust into his middle but it doubles Tony over, none the less. JARVIS takes over in his creator's distraction, proving to all the world why he is the co-pilot by using a short burst from the unibeam to push the Titan away and he rushes the armor back. The purple giant shakes off the blast and comes after Tony again, but Tony's had the few seconds needed to activate Extremis and for the first time he feels just how enhanced he had actually become as his perception sharpens, his reflexes quicken and he feels only the slightest bit less tired.

He forms a mandala shield before Thanos can punch him again, startling the Titan when the blue light prevents him from hitting his target. Tony uses this instance to create the spell Stephen had thought him just a couple of days before Mordo attacked him, forming the three rings and sighing in relief when two of the three light up. His suit had been repaired enough that he has both repulsors, his unibeam and one of his proton repulsor sentries, all of which he aims through the three rings.

Thanos had not been expecting the force behind the attack, not after having felt the same attack over and over again throughout the battle and it having only so much as a stinging effect due to the Power Stone. But that thing in Stark's chest packed a mean punch that the Power Stone could not absorb. Even though he could deflect the other attacks, the unibeam was giving Thanos a continued stream of unadulterated Arc Reactor energy, the Starkenium core's energy signature too similar to an Infinity Stone's for Thanos to so easily deflect it. The amplifier spell Stephen had taught Tony was making it only worse for the Titan and he was being pushed back.

Which is why Thanos used the Space Stone, creating a portal behind himself and falling into it, only to open another one just in front and a little to the left of Stark, picking up a random sharp piece of debris and slamming it into the man's middle on his left side like he had planned on doing with the man's own weapon, only for it to dissolve in his hand and form armor. Well, not this time. The second he delivered the blow, Stark let out a gurgling gasp and doubled over, the attack forgotten and the three rings flickering out of existence.

The fight is over.

Thanos walks Iron Man back until he sits, and places the Gauntlet almost comfortingly on Tony's head. He ignored the haunted look in the man's eyes, looking at this small human, so ordinary and yet so exceptional. Thanos couldn't remember the last time someone had made him break out into a sweat. Certainly not an Asgardian or that green beast he had encountered when he went to get the Space Stone. Tony Stark was really something.

Too bad he had to kill him.

(Unnoticed by the two, but not by a waking sorcerer, the four Stones in the Gauntlet glowed in protest.)

"You have my respect, Stark. When I'm done, half of humanity will still be alive." He takes a good look at the man's features, determination still burning a fire in his eyes even as he accepts his inevitable death. Yes, Stark is a man he respects. He lets go, straightens and steps back, distancing himself from what he was about to do, the bright future of a world he was about to take away. "I hope they remember you." He'll make sure of it. It's the least he can do for his equal.

Iron Man's just a little distracted with the pain, and blood drooling out of his mouth, and compromised breathing. But he's fighting to stay conscious, to continue fighting, eyes flickering between electric blue and hazel brown, trying to get back up, like he had done so many times. He can't stay down. The universe was at stake. _'Now is not the time for a nap, Stark!'_ But he needed a moment, just a moment because _god _he was just so tired. _'Maybe this is it,'_ he thinks and closes his eyes, only for a second, because he was never one to give up, to go down without a fight. He can't. So many people depend on him. Peter, Harley, Vision, his bots and AIs, Pepper, Rhodey, Bruce, the other kids, the Avengers, Earth ... Stephen. _'I need to get up.'_

Stark tries to get up, to stand and not just helplessly lean on the rock that Thanos had practically seated him on as Thanos raises the gauntlet, closing his fist, all four Stones glowing-

"Stop!" Both their heads nsap around, incredulous and panicked - in Tony's case - eyes turning to Doctor Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme of Earth, whom Tony had never heard sound so weak and damaged and wrecked and desperate before. He was barely sitting up but there was a look of desperate determination on his face as he stares at the pair. There was no hesitation in him. "Spare his life... and I will give you the Stone."

Had he had the strength for it, Tony would have gawked at him, maybe raged, maybe launched over there to shake some sense into him or check him over for a concussion because there was _no way Strange was giving up the Time Stone he had sworn to protect no matter what for Tony's meaningless life!_ He _can't_! There were trillions, _quadrillions _at stake!

Thanos, though mostly confused, was intrigued and very interested. "No tricks," he warned and Strange shakes his head as Thanos points all four Stones at him instead.

"Don't ... !" Is Tony's half formed protest but the injury was taking too much out of him coupled with the two days of sleep he had missed due to some project, the lesson at the Sanctum just before the fight and the lack of food since last night. He wasn't even sure how much time had passed since he had eaten and JARVIS and FRIDAY were a little too busy trying to keep him from bleeding out to ask them, directing the nanites to staunch the wound around the thing impaling him.

Strange reaches up and plucks the Time Stone out of its hiding place in the stars, Tony couldn't help but watch just like when Strange had hid it, an amazing feat of magic that shows just how little they knew about the world beyond their narrow perception. Stephen opens his hand, the scars on his fingers and their inherent trembling particularly obvious now, and the Stone floats to Thanos's bare hand. Strange watches him intently, as he takes the Stone and drops it into the thumb setting, the energy pulse making the Titan wince. Tony looks away, already feeling the blame building up in him.

Because of him, an 'hitherto undreamt of' number of lives were going to be wiped out of existence.

He doesn't even notice when Thanos leaves in a fiery vengeance of Quill's gun, or Quill's incredulous question, busy pulling out the thing impaling him and spraying some of the medical nanobots on the wound so FRIDAY and JARVIS can better take care of him, much to their relief.. Instead, when the haze of pain lessens, he looks over to Strange. "Why would you do that?" He asks sadly with anguish, meeting those ever changing eyes.

Stephen watches him just as sadly but there is a determination and a hope shinning in his eyes that wants to give Tony hope. "We're in the endgame now."

Peter comes over and he and KAREN check over Tony's injuries, JARVIS and FRIDAY directing them into doing the few things they can't from within the suit without actual hands. The Guardians of the Galaxy had drawn to each other, seeking comfort in each other and the calmness with which the sorcerer seemed to be taking this all in. The blue one, Nebula, was standing aside in her own grief and Peter was taking comfort in being beside his mentor. Tony's just enjoying the exchange between his AIs, needing their voices to wash over him lest he descend into a panic attack because he had _failed_.

"I'm sorry, guys. This is all my fault," he heard Quill say and Tony hated how the younger man sounded so broken, having found out that the love of his life was probably sacrificed for a dumb stone by a being who had viewed himself as Gamora's father. Tony's heart ached just thinking of all the people they have lost. Loki, Heimdall, Brunhilda, Gamora, maybe someone else back home ...

"It's not your fault," he replied when no one else seemed to know what to say. "Don't kick yourself over this. It's how anyone who's not a sociopath would react. It's. Not. Your. Fault." It was Tony's, because he had _known _this was coming, _why _hadn't he done _more_, _prepared _better, _protected _everyone, _died_!? He should have died.

He felt guilty that he was grateful he wans't dead.

He jerked when a strange feeling washed over him, looking around, as if expecting to find something there. Looking over at Stephen and expecting the same reaction, figuring it had something to do with the mystical, he was surprised to see neither sorcerer nor magical artifact, which was even more perceptive to these things than humans were, had noticed. He wondered if it was just paranoia or blood loss, but JARVIS and FRIDAY had prevented that so what was going on? Since not even Peter's spidey senses were picking up on it, Tony figured it was just exhaustion and ignored it as Peter helped him up as though he weighted nothing.

"Something... is... happening." They hear Mantis saying not a few minutes later before she suddenly fades into ash, being blown away by an inexistent wind. Horror surges through Tony as he realizes that the six Stones must be in the Gauntlet and that Thanos must have snapped his fingers.

"Quill?" Drax says next as he also fades, leaving the lone Guardian to start panicking. Tony notices first and tries to comfort, to reassure, to _something _the younger man.

"Steady, Quill."

"Aw, man." But Quill also gets disintegrated into ashes. The current population of Titan had just been halved. And it would seem that the universe isn't done yet.

"Mister Stark? I don't feel so good..." Cold dread filled Tony as he rounded on Peter, taking the stumbling and slowly turning to ash teenager into his arms, holding on tight as though that alone will keep him together, will prevent him from fading away, from leaving Tony, _from dying in his arms_. There were no words to describe what Tony was feeling in that moment, his horror, terror, despair, panic, anguish, loss. _Please, not his kids, anything but his kids. Not Peter, not Harley, not any of the kids, please, please not his family!_

"You're alright," he says, trying to be calm, his voice shaking as he looks at Peter in terror, willing it to be true even though he knows it's not because Tony Stark never get a happy ending, always only a to be continued, his hell never ending.

And Peter was so scared, so panicked, just clinging to his mentor, forgetting his strength and Tony let him, _god_, he would let him crush him if it meant Pete stayed alive, _please_. "I don't know what's- I don't know what's happening. I don't-" He completely collapses into the man, crying, asking for that same strength everyone seeks that Tony was supposed to have in spades because he's the invincible Iron Man, always strong, always on top. "Save me, save me! I don't wanna go, I don't wanna go, sir, please. Please, I don't wanna go. I don't wanna go..."

But Tony doesn't posses that strength and the two of them collapse to the ground, Tony still holding on to Peter for dear life, thinking 'No, take me, take me you stupid son of a bitch! He's innocent! Take me! I'm tainted! He deserves to live!'

Peter looks at him with terrified eyes, knowing he was leaving his mentor to deal with the one thing Peter had promised himself he would never let Tony deal with. _His death_. "I'm sorry."

Tony tries futilely to catch him when Peter disintegrates into ashes. Tony mourns silently at their failure, holding the small pile of ashes he had managed to catch to his mouth, kissing the ashes of one of the few kids he could have ever called his own as a tear streaks down his cheek. He startles when gentle, shaking hands drape a red cloth over his shoulder and he whirls to the side, horrified to have forgotten about Stephen. His horror grows when he sees the man already fading into ash.

The taller man takes a shuddering breath and leans forward, touching their foreheads together as he takes Tony's left hand and presses a reverent kiss to it. "Tony," he whispers the name like a prayer, a desperate prayer and a desperate plea to be believed and trusted. Tony didn't understand but Stephen cut through his thoughts before he could go spiraling into his own head. "There was no other way."

And Stark breaks down as his friend is turned to dust, the last straw that broke the camels back, the weight he as Atlas had managed to hold up for so long suddenly too much, too heavy for his frail, tired shoulders. Grief unlike any other before overtakes him and Titan _burns_.

The last thing Tony sees before a sharp pain knocks him out is the edges of a torn red cloth trying to catch him.


	37. Chapter 37

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

Tony wakes up inside a ship whose interior he recognizes to belong to the Milano, the ship of the Guardians of the Galaxy. He feels foggy and exhausted and his side hurts like hell and his forearms ache, but he had the distinct notion the worst of his worries shouldn't have been the blistering headache he was currently suffering from. He tries getting up but surprisingly gentle hands push him back down.

_~You're not an ordinary human.~_ The voice makes its way into his head, at once familiar and not familiar enough. He sends a curious ping at the source, figuring that if JARVIS and FRIDAY weren't pushing the voice away, whoever the owner was couldn't be all that bad. The hands on his shoulder flinch away but the voice is back a second later, hesitant. ~Can you hear me, Terran?~

_'Of course. You're talking, aren't you?'_

"I'm talking _now_, Terran. I wasn't a moment ago. I was _thinking_. How did you get into my head?" That had Stark looking up at the owner of the hands and, apparently, the voice, eyes falling onto a blue woman with many, many robotic parts, many of them in her head. Her name was ... Nebula, if he remembers correctly. Gamora's sister. Taking in those strange robotic parts has Tony opening up the link to all things mechanic through the Extremis, also opening a connection to JARVIS and FRIDAY, which allowed him to get a brief scan of the cyborg. Nebula jerked away from him for some reason and Tony arched an eyebrow at that.

"I'm technically what some would call a technopath. I can communicate and control all things mechanical and technological and the scans my two- three," Tony corrects himself when he hears KAREN's timid and sad greeting, the Iron Spider's spider-spy crawling into view, looking dejected and ashamed like only a creation of Tony's can be. Tony let it crawl onto his finger as comfort, sending reassurance to his youngest present AI that she wasn't at fault for what had happened to Peter (He tried not to panic or hyperventilate. He couldn't. He didn't have the time to do that. He had to think of a way to fix things. He was a mechanic. Mechanics fix things. There _had_ to be a way to fix this. There _had_ to) even as he spoke to Nebula. "AIs gave me suggests that you have quite a bit of mechanical in your body and in your brain. I guess I instinctively reached for it by accident. Sorry. I won't do it again."

"See that you do," Nebula huffed but Tony could see the curious way she was studying him. He guessed he made quite a sight. The great Tony Stark, unable to sit up, beaten, bloody and bruised, far from home and alone with a half robot. "You are Stark."

"I am," he replied tiredly, not bothering to stand up. "Did you fix my wounds somehow? Because I know I didn't sleep that long and there's no way my medical nanites could fix this much damage." In fact, Tony had slept only ten hours. Even with Extremis and JARVIS and FRIDAY hard at work, his wounds should not feel as healed as they were. In fact, J and FRI were sending him scans that his wounds were actually healed completely. But they were hesitating to tell him something. Tony could force them, either through Extremis or by ordering them to tell him, but he would never be like that with his own kids. Which is why he was being a decent human being and asking.

"I guess you don't remember then." Nebula said in a very vague manner and Tony frowned, about to make a remark that might get him killed since he was pretty sure Nebula was like Gamora, an alien version of Romanoff, and it was never a good idea to piss off a woman like that. But the blue cyborg explained without prompting. "I had to knock you out because you were doing something strange-" He cringed at that word, heart clenching when he remembered the last time he had seen the man most associated with it. Nebula, bless her half robotic soul, didn't comment on it. "With all the electronics in a good twenty mile radius. Titan has been dead for many decades, maybe even a couple of centuries, but you made it come to life."

"What?" The confused genius asked and Nebula just pointed out of a window right behind her. Tony leaned up a little to see and was shocked to see all those ruined buildings having at least some lights on as opposed to the deserted way they had been quiet and dark for who knows how long.

_-You lost control, Sir. And in your grief, you lashed out.- _JARVIS explained in his head, his voice gentle and comforting.

_-You range had expanded to an impossible radius and you were unresponsive. Had it not been for Nebula boss lady, you would have fried everything. Including yourself.-_ Nebula boss lady, huh? He guessed that if he and her were the only ones on this planet, she might come to that status easily enough, especially if she had cared for him when he was unconscious.

_-You're skin was burning, Mr Stark.-_ Came the worried voice of KAREN, still hesitant and grieving the loss of Peter. JARVIS and FRIDAY were also both very fond of the boy, but their priority will always be their creator. And while even KAREN's primary protocol was the protection of Tony Stark, she was his AI and she had feelings. She had grown close to Peter and now she was grieving his loss. FRIDAY and JARVIS, while also grieving, were just glad their creator had survived.

_-We were losing you.-_ Tony wanted to wince at the hidden terror he detected in his oldest friend's voice. _-Extremis was taking over. The only reason you haven't become unstable like all those who had received the first version of the virus was because of the protection spell Doctor Strange put on you. It subdued most of the negative energy, which is why you lashed out.-_

But in lashing out, Tony almost did something that he could never forgive himself for. "I almost hurt you. I _did _hurt you." And Nebula, too. He'll have to check her over, offer to repair anything he or the battle had damaged. It was the least he could do.

_-We're fine, Boss. You could never hurt us.-_

_-She is correct, Sir. None of that energy even reached us. We are so integrated in you with Extremis that it recognizes us as an extension of you. We were safe.-_

_-And they kept me safe, too, Mr Stark. Don't blame yourself. Please.-_

"It was nothing, I reacted before you could do me any damage." Nebula waved him off, even as that eye piece slid out of place and she had to rearrange it back into its proper position. "I had this before I came. Work of Thanos. Don't bother blaming yourself, Stark."

"Did you know of me like Gamora did? Because Thanos knew of me?" Tony couldn't help but ask. "I could fix that for you, you know. I could probably even make it better."

"Terran technology is light years behind in the evolutionary process than the technology that is inserted in me."

"And yet it is an Earthling who is first to be a self-made technopath." Tony decides to screw his injuries, they were healed and he only had residue pain to deal with from the remembered sensation of what an injury like this should feel like, and he sat up carefully. Nebula surprises him by helping him but he figures she'd rather not be stuck on this godforsaken planet all by herself, either. "And believe me, that's no easy feat. The human body is not good with electronics and electricity. We're like a big conduit for all that electricity, being made over 80% out of water with salt and other such matters that allows electricity to run its course wily nilly around our bodies. Not fun. Anyway, as a technopath, I can best asses whatever needs to be done to take care of your injures. And since you watched over me, I guess we should make it _quid pro quo_ and make us equal."

"Maybe after you rest a bit more. And eat something." As if to reinforce her point, she hands over something that looks like a pack of astronaut food, but only, like, ten times more alien, starting with its strange purple color. "It's Quill's food, so I know a human should be able to digest it without experiencing any sort of poisoning and your ... Artificial Intelligence children have informed me that the nutritions in it are not harmful to your body."

Tony went to accept it with his left hand gratefully, only for the pack to slip through numb fingers - probably from sleeping on his arm, damn it - but he was surprised when something red caught it for him and held it out to his other hand. Which was the first time Tony noticed that the Cloak of Levitation had been covering his body, keeping him warm and as comfortable as he can be while on the metal floor of a spaceship. It was like seeing it was suddenly to much and a dam broke.

He gathered the Cloak into a bunched up mess of red cloth and hugged the fabric to his chest, breathing shuddering but eyes dry. He didn't know how this hadn't hit him before. Probably because he had two worried and one guilty AI - his mechanical children - to worry about before it all crashed down on him. They were gone. _Half of the universe_ was _gone_. And it was all his fault, he hadn't prepared better, he hadn't done more. He had failed them. They were dead. He was _alone_. In _space_. Well, technically, he was neither alone nor in space; he was with JARVIS, FRIDAY, KAREN, the Cloak and Nebula and they were on an alien planet called Titan. But it's not like his panicking brain could focus on that when it was being assaulted by _loss_ and _grief_ and questions, _so many questions_. _Who was left? How many of his friends were gone? Does it affect AIs? He can't lose his bots too. Was Vision okay? God, what if Pepper or Happy or Rhodey were gone, too? What of Harley or Shuri or Kamala or Dante? Cassie, Cooper, Lila and little Nathaniel? Laura and Logan? The other mutants and Inhumans? Are any of the Defenders gone? The Fantastic Four? How was Thor taking the loss of the last part of his family? Was _he_ even alive? Wong and the sorcerers of Earth? Was Earth even safe? Was there anyone left to defend it? He could have done so much more! _Why_ hadn't he done _more_!? This was all his fault, his fault his fault-_

A crack resonated through the metal inside of the ship as his head snapped to the side, his cheek stinging. The instruments calmed down and shut off, electricity dying from his fingertips. Noise registered in his head, beeping of machinery, groaning of metal and other materials moving to comply, his AIs voices in his head. He raised a hand to his stinging cheek and looked back to Nebula to see a worried frown on her face. "Thanks," he ground out, voice hoarse as though he had not spoken or drank any water in a very long time. In response, Nebula grabbed some bottle-looking container and shoved it into the Cloak's hold and just _when_ had the sentient piece of outerwear wrap around him like a security blanket? It brought the container to his lips and pressed, all but shoving water down his throat and he moaned at the cool liquid sliding down his perched throat. He had to eventually make it stop before he choked when he had his fill, which brought to his attention the glowing bracelet around his wrist. The protection charm Strange had made for him ... It was glowing. It was _working_.

_"Fourteen million six hundred and five."_

_"One."_

_"We're in the endgame now."_

_"Tony, there was no other way."_

"Fuck, I'm an idiot!" Tony cursed and lunged to his feet before anyone could stop him. He stumbled out of the ship - how had he not noticed that a bolder had cut the thing in half? How had Nebula even dragged him in here? She must be stronger than he had given her credit for or J and FRI had helped her. Doesn't matter, not what's important now - coming out into the strange light of Titan, Nebula scrambling after him. He looked around, considering the readings he asked his AIs to draw up again, studying them. Titan was a hell of a lot different from Earth, but the energy flow still had a pattern. He just needs to figure it out. "JARVIS, FRIDAY, you two get on that immediately. KAREN, take the spider-spy out to search for any additional material that we can use for repairs or upgrades." He looked down at the Cloak, which was insistently pushing the strange food into his hands. He took it and patted it in thanks.

"You need to rest. Enhanced or not, you are still Terran and very fragile. Thanos has done a great number on you. I don't need you collapsing." Nebula said as she came to stand by his side, looking for whatever it was he was seeing. Tony wondered if he should oblige her and send her the data stream, but for all that her brain was part processor, she didn't have what was needed to process all that information in so short a window of time.

"First of all, I am a human, or an Earthling if you must. I'd prefer you call me by name, but I won't force you. Second of all, I am fine. Extremis took care of all of my wounds, even the internal ones." Tony replied, looking over at her from the corner of his eye. She was still intrigued by the glowing blue of his irises when she saw them but no longer alarmed. "I won't be collapsing any time soon. Or at least not from my injuries."

"Then what do you plan to collapse of?" She snapped at him but he ignored her as JARVIS noticed a pattern. He and FRIDAY were already processing it so they could give Tony as accurate information as they can while KAREN, already having found materials for repairs, pinged him with a message.

"Let's get your injuries and damage looked over," he said instead of answering her question, urging her to come over to where KAREN had located sufficient amounts of supplies for parts for Nebula. Tony immediately put FRIDAY to work on scanning Nebula and 3D printing all the parts that Nebula needed fixed, replaced or could do with an upgrade.

"I'm not letting a delirious human mess with my parts."

Tony leveled her with a look that was so deadpan, Stephen would be proud, if the idiot hadn't decided to turn to dust along with the rest of the half of the universe. Tony will be having _words _with the man when Tony gets him and the others back. That's right, _when_, not _if_. Because Stephen's spell was still working as strongly as it had always. Tony knew enough about magic to know that there were spells that far outlasted their casters but the spells were always stronger while the caster was alive, drawing on his energy and the natural energy of the universe rather than just seeping enough energy out of the universe to work as it should. Tony had looked into the charm Stephen had placed on him and he knew the thing was made to protect Tony, body, mind and spirit, no matter what happened to Stephen, a ploy to protect Tony's genetic material, brain and the Arc Reactor even in death so no one could get to his most dangerous secrets. Tony had never been so grateful when he found that out, as he actively feared all of his hard work since Afghanistan going down the drain because someone eventually finds a way to extract the schematics for the many weapons besides Iron Man that still crowd Tony's mind - it's in his blood, too create, improve on sight. The Jericho he presented in Afghanistan was only the first of many already planned and modified in his mind. Tony may see the future better than Strange, even if not in the same way. He doesn't need magic. He mentally lives in the future while forcing himself to stay in the present physically - so Stephen's spell is a blessing and the greatest gift Tony could never (because he doesn't deserve it) ask for.

"I have only ever once been truly delirious, and back then I was dying of heavy metal poisoning, deadly for a human. I still managed to make a whole new element that generates more power than what that big flying donut could ever hope to generate. Don't patronize me just because I come from a technologically less advanced planet because I am the _future _of that planet where science and technology is concerned. I am already more than equipped to do the repairs and even give you a few updates, if you so wish. However, I am _not _allowing you to go back into the fight with the damage you're sporting now."

"Back?" The blue woman looked interested now and Tony let himself hope. Hope was all he had left. He had to fight. He couldn't give up. Strange hadn't been trying to prevent this from happening. He had been leading them down the one path that ended in victory. Tony Stark was not big on belief and blind trust, but Strange had seen the future and Tony was somehow essential in bringing about that one victory in fourteen million six hundred and five possibilities. He had trusted Stephen Strange since the day they had met.

He trusted him now. He believed him.

There was still a fight to be fought.

"We've lost the battle, but the war is far from over, Nebula, my dear." Tony told her with absolute certainty. There were so many things to do, so little time. Tony wanted them back _now_, Peter and Stephen and Quill and Mantis and Drax and Gamora and Loki and whoever else suffered from the Snap. He knew if he slowed down that he will probably have another breakdown, freak out again, maybe fry some more circuitry that might be essential in them getting out of here. Nebula's ship was scrapped. The Milano was halved. The flying donut was out of commission but sure to have something useful in it if Tony's other plan doesn't work. Nebula's ship can be fixed. He was sure he could fix it. If not, he'll build another one, He's an engineer, a mechanic. He builds things. That's what he's best at. So he'll build.

"How can you be so sure?" Nebula asks even as she cautiously extends an arm to him, letting him start small and if he doesn't know what he's doing, she'll stop him. Tony's not even offended. He's worked with far lest trust. So he starts working immediately, directing his nanites until they're the proper tools that FRIDAY controls, JARVIS altering between scanning their surroundings and Nebula. KAREN was using the nanites he had given her to make more nanobots. There was some rich material for him to use here which will only make his suit stronger. It was also great material for Nebula's parts, almost identical alloy.

Without looking up from his work, Tony replied.

"Because we're in the endgame now. And that's when the real game really starts."


	38. Chapter 38

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

"Are you sure you can do this?"

"Don't worry, I've had the training for it."

"But will you be able to make it? It's quite a feat. The distance is perhaps to much. The strain on your body could kill you, if what you've told me about how this works is true."

"I've dealt with impossible odds before. I've overworked myself more often than I'd like to count. And these things were meant for traveling through _dimensions_. I'll be fine. Probably tired as fuck, but fine. Just be ready, okay?"

"I've got your back."

A deep sigh.

Sparks started flying.

Two figures were lit up in the beautiful color.

It had worked.

00000

Steve didn't know what to focus on first, which feeling should take residence over which. To be fair, the world had practically ended just a couple of days ago and half of his friends had disappeared with it. _Bucky _had disappeared with it. And with him went Steve's desire to fight, his will to defend. He just felt so old. So _cold_. Like he was on the ice again. Perhaps he will never feel the warmth of sun again, despite being in a fairly warm part of the world. He figured he deserved the frigid coldness that had taken over him.

After all that he had done ...

_What had he done?!_ Had he really thought it through before he had acted? He had been an idiot. He had allowed his own pride to get in the way of thinking straight. He had refused to listen, once again believing that he was right and everyone else was wrong. He had not even consulted with any of his friends and teammates about it before he had done it. And now, in the aftermath, when the world had suffered the consequences, Steve had never before missed Tony as much as he missed the eccentric genius right now.

Tony had been right. _Wasn't he always_, a part of Steve asked and he fought the instinctive urge to shove that part down and shut it up. It was right. _Tony _was right. Tony was _always _right. The man wasn't a certified genius for nothing. The inventor had been preparing for this for _years_, despite so many people brushing him off, telling him he was manic, crazy, obsessed. He had not listened in the usual Tony fashion and had in the same fashion taken the world by a storm when it was needed because _he had been ready_.

Because that's what Tony _does_.

He's always been the one to prepare the Avengers for what they were facing, from day one, from their very firs fight as a team. He had gone ahead, scoped out the situation, even confronted Loki and started the fight long before Steve and the others came in the Quinjet. He had given them all the facts and prepared them for the fight. Prepared them for the Hulk. He had simply prepared them for it. He had then later prepared them for the media storm that would follow, taking the lead like he was a born leader, easily stepping in whenever one of them was floundering on how to express themselves or how to respond.

Tony prepared all of their other missions, too. He prepared for a day when SHIELD will no longer be able to keep them safe and had renamed the Stark Tower into Avengers Tower, prepared to house them and had done so with glee. He prepared their attack on the base in which they first encountered Pietro and Wanda. He prepared the evacuation of civilians, each and every time. He had been prepared for the Accords.

He had tried to prepare them, too, but they had refused.

He had been prepared for this, that much had been obvious from the first meeting they had after Doctor Strange took him from that first meeting. He had been more and more prepared with each next meeting, extending the team, the influence of th Avengers Initiative, getting information from so many places that there was no way it could be inaccurate. He had been ready, had continued being ready and then Steve had messed it up.

Tony had been ready to trust him, had trusted him with something so precious. And Steven had fucked up.

Now half of the world was gone. Half of the universe was gone, just like that, with a simple snap of the fingers. Now Thor was mourning half of his people, who have already lost so many in numbers due to Hela. He was mourning his oldest friend. He was grieving after the brother he had finally managed to keep at his side and a warrior that had helped him at the toughest of times. Vision was offline. Shuri said there was a definite way to wake him up, that Tony had done a good job and that he was indeed separate from the Mind Stone, that it had just been his primary power source and that there was a new one waiting to be activated but she refused to wake him up until he was properly repaired.

Jane Foster had called screaming, demanding that Tony Stark be put on the phone because Darcy Lewis and Erik Selvig had turned to dust. A hysteric Betty Ross had also called for the genius because Doctors Cho and Wu had disappeared with the Snap. A haunted Susan Storm had asked for Tony, she alone in the Baxter Building, looking ready to reach through the screen to kill him when she laid eyes on Steve. A broken Maggie had contacted them to tell them Scott can't come because Cassie was gone. Laura Barton had also disappeared with the snap. Clint refused to leave his children. May Parker asked after Tony, Peter and Strange.

A red eyed Harley, left alone without a mother or sister, asked for Tony, the only father figure he ever had.

Erik Lehnsherr called, asking for Stark because Charles Xavier was gone and he feared he was losing control and he needed to be put away before he hurts the remaining X-Men and children. A pinkish red-haired woman calling herself Medusa asked for Stark as well because the king of Inhumans was also gone. Logan and his daughter made no contact and everyone knew what that meant and dreaded confirming it. Daredevil, Luke Cage and Jessica Jones were also lost, leaving Iron Fist alone.

T'Challa was gone. Okoye saw him go with her own eyes and mourned him with Shuri, Ramonda and their people. They can't find Sam. Wanda disintegrated where she had been trying to destroy the Mind Stone. That talking tree, Groot, had disappeared in front of Rocket the Raccoon's eyes. And Bucky had been dusted before Steve's eyes, when he had been looking for Vision. The world was mourning the half they had lost.

The world was mourning the loss of their greatest defender. The not knowing was killing them all. The Sorcerers of Kamar-Taj or whatever were silent. Bruce and Carol and Rhodes had tried getting in contact with that Wong man but he wasn't answering. They didn't know what to think. JARVIS, FRIDAY and some other AI of Tony's were all missing and those were the only AIs that Wong ever got in contact with. JOCASTA or whatever her name was had tried reaching out to the sorcerer, but he hadn't answered. They didn't know what to think. It was all beyond their power now. They didn't know what had happened to Tony and the world was demanding answers. Natasha was keeping on top of the information and the people were already blaming the rouges for letting Iron Man be taken. As if it was _their_ fault Tony was a brave, self-sacrificing hero who had been ready to die for them all. People were calling for their blood and their heads.

And Steve was too tired to fight them anymore. Was this how Tony felt? Always this tired? How had they not noticed it before? How did Tony bear it all this time? How did he not collapse under this weight? It felt like the world was pushing down on his shoulders. Steve was a supersoldier and it was too much. Tony was a baseline human and yet he seemed to bear the weight with no problem.

"Rogers," the blond's head snapped up, looking up at a grim looking Rhodey. "Shuri says the satellites picked up a portal being trying to breach Earth's atmosphere. It's aiming for Wakanda. Everyone's gathering to see what it is. She says it matches the energy signature the sorcerer's use. We want to go check it out just in case it ain't Strange."

"Right," Steve said and stood up, taking his shield that T'Challa had had made for him. "It's probably for the best that we make sure." The two men walked out of the palace, where indeed everyone who had survived the snap was waiting to see what will happen. Sparks were appearing in thin air, sometimes managing to form a flickering circle, other times just a spot in the air. It definitely resembled the portals Steve had seen Strange and Wong use so far. The remaining Dora Milaje and the Avengers were all pointing weapons at it while Rhodes and Carol seemed to be frowning at it. Why, though, Steve could only guess. It could be the color. Weren't all things magic related that orange color? Unless you're Wanda, of course. Wanda's magic had always been red.

"Okay, here it goes." Rhodey said as the sparks suddenly started spinning in a sure, 'solid' circle, starting out small until it was just big enough to fit a person through. To the surprise of everyone, the sparks were not the usual orange color. If anything, they were an achingly familiar blue that no pallet in the world could copy. Pictures didn't do it justice. Steve would know, he has an artist's eye and view of the world and the electric blue color of the Arc Reactor was not one people have been able to reconstruct with the known pallet they had at hand. And even more surprising than the color of the portal was the landscape seen through the window in space. It was definitely not anything Steve had seen on Earth. If anything, it looked like a alien city on an alien planet, but it was beyond abandoned and destroyed. Like no one had been there for decades, if not longer.

But perhaps what was the most shocking was who was standing on the other side of the portal. There were two people there. One was a bald, blue woman no one recognized, looking like half of her body was covered in machines. Steve was no expert, but her parts looked quite a bit more advanced than Bucky's metal arm, even the Vibranium one. But some of the work also looked familiar, in the way it was lit up like Rhodes' prosthetics. The woman was obviously alien and openly showed that she was armed, scanning them all with distrust, appraising them. She was hostile but wasn't attacking. She was just ready to, at any point in time.

But she wasn't who had all of their attention, Steve knew. It was the man she was with, a few steps in front of her, who had so effortlessly caught all of their interest. _'As always,'_ Steve thought fondly as relief flooded through him like a tidal wave. He was battered, whatever form of under-suit he wore was almost ruined with blood and an alarmingly big hole in his left side and he had enormous black bruises under his eyes from the lack of sleep - he probably _couldn't_ sleep ever since the Snap, five days ago - but Tony Stark was still a sight for sore eyes in all of his strength and the glowing Arc Reactor in his chest. For reasons Steve could never explain, the world suddenly seemed brighter, less bleak, as Tony looked through the blue glowing portal back to Earth. Hope suddenly didn't seem like an empty, four letter word and, judging from the faces of everyone who was standing with him, Steve would wager that they agreed whole heartedly. They all watched with bathed breath as Tony and his companion walked through the portal, the blue woman keeping extremely close to the one and only indestructible Iron Man, who was welcomed back to Earth with a cheer from some of the Wakandans and the New Avengers currently present. Shuri even let out a relieved sob somewhere behind him. Steve couldn't drag his eyes away from Tony, though, which is why he saw the moment when his eyes turned the same electric blue as the portal and the Arc Reactor. Which was why he was the second to react to Tony crumbling to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut off, not hitting the ground only because the alien woman caught him.

The blue alien growled at him when Steve collapsed in front of Tony, reaching out with his hands, as if to steady him. Right now, he wanted nothing more than to touch Tony, to confirm that the genius was really there, but he was afraid of disappointment so he kept his hands to himself, hovering just inches from Tony's skin as the shorter man leaned heavily against the other person who had come with him while the portal collapsed behind them with a crack not unlike the sound of clashing thunder. Tony was breathing hard, struggling to get in enough air with his diminished lung capacity - another wave of guilt crashed through Steve but he ignored it to the best of his ability because Tony _needed_ him now and he can't disappoint him right now - his eyes clenched almost painfully tightly shut, but that strange blue glow still peaked out, mesmerizing Steve with how it was playing with Tony's long eyelashes. He was so completely enraptured by them - he didn't notice when the blue woman hissed at him to _back off_ or how she was glaring with enough murderous intent at the others behind him that not even Okoye or Natasha dared take a step closer. He didn't even notice that even _Rhodey_ was staying back - that he didn't react when they suddenly snapped open.

It happened so fast that not even Steve's enhanced eye sight was helping him understand how the Iron Man armor enveloped Tony in the blink of an eye before he was lunging at Steve with a strength that Steve had never known Tony or his suits to ever possess. He found himself on his back in seconds, Tony's foot _fluidly transforming_ from the ordinary foot gear to clamps that wrapped around Steve's throat, shoulders and upper chest and _pinned him down_ like he was a measly bug, the other foot bracing itself over Steve's right arm, his left arm being held down by what looked like a magnetic shackle kind of thing, only it was stronger than any magnetic imprisonment device Steve had ever faced and it didn't need _metal_ to keep him pinned down. He tried struggling but stopped when a giant cannon like thing was shoved into his face, Tony leaning over him like an avenging angel, his left hand shaking with rage as he stared him down the shark-shaped weapon that was charged so strongly that the grass around the blond's head was fraying and dying at a rapid pace. And if anyone had even entertained the thought of helping him get free of Tony, there were four strange things hovering around Iron Man, as charged as a repulsor. And if that wasn't enough to dissuade anyone from trying anything, besides the rockets and missals and lasers Tony had aimed at the people behind where Steve had stood, the blue alien was watching his back.

"_You_," Tony spat out with such seething rage that Steve shivered as though he had crashed into the ice all over again. Those unnaturally glowing blue eyes - _how was Tony even doing that!?_ \- glared down at him with such hate and anguish and betrayal and killing intent that Steve for the first time saw the truth of Siberia: Tony had held back; he had not had any intent on killing either him or Bucky. Something that could not be said for the burning _rage_ that he saw in the billionaire's eyes right now. "_You_ did this!"

"Tony, you gotta relax, man-"

"VERONICA," Tony cut off whatever Rhodey was about to say and the suit opened around Bruce, ejecting him gently before coming to stand behind its creator, additional parts flying in from the Earth's orbit to replace the arm that had been destroyed during the fight with the Outriders. All weaponry of the Hulkbuster armor joined in pointing weapons on the Avengers. War Machine went into sentry mode even with Rhodey still in it when Tony called for SARAH, probably the suit's AI, deactivating all weapons and defenses that might have been useful in putting Tony down if it came to that.

"Tony, you're obviously being controlled by the Mind Stone, just like Clint was-"

But Tony only barked a humorless laugh at Natasha's assessment, chilling Steve to his very soul. Forget the ice. This felt so much colder. "Seriously? How _ever_ did you get to evaluate people? SHIELD must have been _desperate_." Tony looked up at the now blond haired spy, giving her a sharp smile. "I'm not controlled by _anything_." His eyes flared brighter and all weaponry that had been pointed at Tony deactivated, no matter if they were Wakandan or anything else. "This is Extremis. I now _control_ things. Mechanical and electrical things, to be precise. Technology. No matter its form. The color of my eyes doesn't even _begin_ to resemble the blue of someone controlled by the Mind Stone. But that's not why we're here." Steve started struggling anew when Stark looked down at him again, all that rage returning to his eyes in a second. "_This is all **your** fault_!"

"You can't blame Steve for Thanos getting the other two Stones, Tony. We couldn't manage to extract the Mind Stone from Vision in time before Thanos came to get it. Wanda managed to destroy it but Thanos somehow used the Time Stone - which _you_ and Strange were supposed to protect, might I add - to reverse the process and he almost killed Vision when he ripped the Stone out of his forehead. We were simply not ready, Tony. It was no one's fault." Natasha tried to placate and explain but Tony didn't budge. If anything, the cannon thing only buzzed stronger. Steve swore he will have burns on his face, if he even survives this encounter.

"He was just a _kid_." Tony said in a dangerous hiss. "Did you even realize _how many lives _were _at stake_!? Do you honestly think that you know what's best for _everyone_!? How _could_ you!? How _dare_ you do this!? I lost a boy I considered my _child_ because of your damned _pride_, Rogers!" The cannon whined now, prepared for use. The blue alien woman looked approving, if confused by the source of Tony's rage. "Half of the universe is _gone_ because you couldn't let _someone else hold all the cards_!" Now everyone was stunned by the things that were falling off of Tony's tongue but Steve could only look at his eyes, at the anguish and sadness and loss there and think that, like so many times before, Tony somehow understood exactly what he was feeling. "Do you even realize what you have _done_!?"

"Tony, there was no other way." The blond insisted, trying not to choke when Tony jerked at his words, the clamp thing pushing him harder against the earth. "Don't you see? They would have used those satellites to control us! To spy on us! There were weapons on those things, Tony! They could have killed us from space and we wouldn't even know it!"

"Rogers, what the hell are you talking about?" Captain Marvel asked in a horrified voice and Steve knew he should panic, but he couldn't. He was too busy trying to get Tony to see things from his perspective.

"Don't you see? It was too dangerous! It was for the best!"

"Oh my god," someone uttered behind them. Tony's eyes flashed brighter and Steve started choking for breath when the engineer pressed into him with even more force.

"Those satellites were our _only chance at keeping the Infinity Stones _**safe**!" Stark thundered like a raging god and no one made a move to stop him or get him off of Steve now. "They were _made_ to withstand the _Infinity Stones_, magic and the _fucking_ Bifrost and even travel at the fucking speed of light! There was _nothing_, absolutely _nothing_ that could have broken into Earth's atmosphere should the shields have been _standing_! This is _your_ doing!" He leaned in closer, until their faces were mere inches apart. "I gave you one of the keys because I believed the fate of the universe was stacked _above_ your obsession with Barnes and your pettiness against the modern day society, our politics and our politicians. I obviously made a _mistake_. I should have known I can't trust you." He leaned back again, opening his left hand so a repulsor was also glaring down at Rogers. The combination of the repulsor and the cannon was a definite death sentence. "I should have _killed_ you in that bunker. No, I should have killed you in the Helicarrier. I would have saved the world a whole lot of grief."

"Friend Stark," Thor called out before Tony could continue in that tone of voice that had been chilling Steve like the vastness of space and vacuum. The blond Asgardian rushed forward, warily eying the alien protecting Tony's back and the Hulkbuster armor, terrifying in its ability to take down even the Hulk in full rage mode. But Thor ignored all of that - maybe because of his elevated powers, maybe because of his new axe, Steve didn't know why but the Asgardian didn't seem afraid - and approached slowly the - in some ways - first Avenger holding down the oldest Avenger - not counting Thor's being an Asgardian and all that; he didn't count since he came to Earth only a couple of years before New York. "Do not let your grief get the best of you. You will surely regret it. I did. I had a chance to cut off Thanos' head but instead I went for the heart so I can boast that I've taken vengeance for Loki, Heimdall, Brunhilda and the dwarfs of Nivadellir. Don't let your emotions cloud your judgment."

"My judgment is fine." Stark grit out through his teeth but the cannon things hovering around him didn't zero in on Thor, either. "My judgment _must_ be fine. Because if it isn't, then this thing is _permanent_. And I'm not about to allow that."

"So you've spoken with Strange?" Steve was lost now. Then again, he was pretty sure everyone else was, too, but he at least had the excuse of being held at repulsor and cannon point.

"We're in the endgame now. There was no other way." Tony says as though he was repeating another person's words.

Thor nods, coming to stand before the two men on the ground. He stopped when Strange's flying cape thing surged up from ... somewhere - Steve really hadn't been paying attention to the details once his eyes landed on Tony. Perhaps the thing had flown in after him and the alien woman? Or had it been around Tony's shoulders? Or in the blue one's grasp? He should have paid more attention - hovering threateningly and challengingly in front of the thunder god. Almost _daring_ him to take a step closer. Thor didn't. "The sorcerer seems to have foreseen some of these events. We must trust his judgment, my friend. We cannot afford to lose this battle."

"Right you are, Point Break. But _would_ there have even _been_ a battle had this _idiot_ not taken down the shields?"

"I do not know. But what I _do_ know is that the good Infinite Beer Wizard would not want you to sully your hands needlessly with the Captain's blood." Steve kind of doubted that. Strange hated his guts. Tony seemed to think so, too, judging by his snort.

"He was just waiting for an excuse to throw him into the Dark Dimension. I rather doubt he will miss him."

"He won't," the blond Asgardian agreed. "But he _will_ regret that it was _you_ who took his life. He is your friend and a doctor. Doctors save lives, not take them." Something that Thor said seemed to resonate with Tony - on several levels - because he powered down his weapons almost immediately. He didn't get up. He didn't let Steve go. The clamp thing was still pretty much choking him. "He wouldn't want you to do this. This is not a battle, friend Stark." _It's murder_, rang without it being said.

Tony didn't move.

"He gave us _one_ chance to fix this." Thor continued talking, taking the risk of a miniature step forward. The red cape bristled. "Are you going to waste it?"

Tony suddenly let go and lurched off of Steve, right into the waiting folds of the flying cape. The blond supersoldier was so stupefied that it took him several minutes to figure out that he was free and that Tony had let him go before passing out. The blue woman was standing over his curled up body like a protective lioness, her weapons on display like bared fangs, the looming form of the Hulkbuster armor echoing her threat.

Shuri rushed in, calling for a doctor even as three accented voices coming from only Tony knows where - literally - rattled off blood pressure, heart rate and other medical nonsense at her. Bruce also rushed over to Tony, feeling his pulse and doing a general check up that apparently insulted all _four_ present AIs. Steve kind of expected someone to come help him to his feet, maybe Natasha or even Rhodes (he was mostly neutral in these things) and instead found himself surrounded by the remaining Dora Milaje.

Judging by the look in Okoye's eyes as she held the spear in his face, he was in for a painful ride.


	39. Chapter 39

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

"Will he be alright?" Thor asked after Tony Stark was settled into the best room in the medical wing of the palace that Wakanda had, treated like royalty that Thor often saw in this man. He had often found it silly how Loki had wanted to rule this realm and thought he had no one to challenge for it. Sure, it took Thor until a few months ago to see it, but it was so obvious that Midgard - that _Earth_ was Tony Stark's kingdom.

Said man was currently lying in as soft a hospital bed as they could arrange, connected to things called nutritions and some other substances that humans used as medicine. He looked quite young, asleep. And it also showed just how exhausted he appeared, as well, since there was now no mask of his own making to hide the lines of stress and lack of sleep. He was surprisingly not injured at all but the blue woman he came with, Nebula, said that he had been stabbed through his left side by Thanos himself. There was no trace of the wound now, the doctors said. He should have bled out or been unable to move or stand for weeks yet, and still Stark was apparently more than moving and standing. He was fighting fit, judging by how easily he took down the Captain, and he had been moving about quite a bit, repairing Nebula's parts and, apparently, doing magic.

Thor had been quite right, three years ago. Everything had an explanation except Tony Stark.

"He will be fine after he gets some rest. He's only pushed himself too far." The doctor assigned to Tony said, looking over the readings Stark's children were giving since they would not allow anyone else to do anything with their father while he was unconscious. It was good to have JARVIS back. He was the brightest of Stark's children and he proved that by operating Stark's new armor - which was a thing of beauty Thor was sure even Eitri would drool over, let alone these mortals - and threatening them when they tried to do a body scan. Princess Shuri had agreed to the request as long as they got regular, half an hour updates on Tony's condition. The youngest one, KAREN, Thor believed it to be her name, went with the princess and apparently told her what had happened because the young royal refused to leave Stark's side after hearing what the intelligence currently residing in a metal spider had to say, keeping vigil over the man she practically considered family. The mighty VERONICA had returned to Earth's atmosphere, to monitor for any incoming threats, after assuring Banner that, should he need her, she will come aid him. Lady FRIDAY, Stark's other constant helper had left their father's care in the eldest's hands, returning to New York to help Susan Storm put the shields back up. And the noble JARVIS had not left his father's side at all. "I am sure that with a little sleep and some food, Mr Stark will be as good as new."

"That is a relief to hear," Thor let out a relieved sigh, speaking the truth. He did not wish to think about what the Sorcerer Supreme of Earth would do to him if something were to happen to Stark under his watch.

"Yes," agreed Nebula from where she, too, had not left Tony's side. She had threatened to kill everyone who stood in her way should they try to separate them. Shuri had allowed her to come after the children Stark has made assured her that she was indeed an ally and a close new friend of Stark's. This was the first time she'd spoken since then. "So, you have spoken with the sorcerer?"

That threw Thor off a little and had Shuri turning around to look at them in interest. The other Avengers had not been allowed to come in until the doctor left and were only now pilling in, stopping dead in their tracks at the conversation they walked in on, interest peaking.

The Asgardian nodded. "Yes. He has went with me to Nivadellir. Had a bargain to strike with the king of dwarfs, Eitri. I've never before seen Eitri agree so readily. Then again, he offered to free his hands." Thor recalled the look on Eitri's face when Strange told him he could do it, the hope, the readiness to agree.

"What was the bargain about?" Asked the Black Widow, eyes scrutinizing as she looked at him. In many ways, her gaze reminded him of Loki - and a wave of nostalgia, remorse, anger, pain, regret and loss crashed through Thor at the thought of his brother but he shook it off for the moment - but she lacked the intelligence and knowledge his brother possessed and gathered in the many centuries he had lived and the things he had seen or learned. Still, she was trying to analyze him and, seeing how badly she'd misjudged both the Captain and the Man of Iron - it was almost as though she'd switched their personalities - Thor was not impressed with her attempts. Loki had told him not to spend much time around her after they'd come to Earth to build New Asgard and Banner, for all that he had at one point seemingly held some affection for her, had agreed wholeheartedly. She was not a woman to be trusted, as displayed many times over the years, in particular with her interactions with friend Stark.

If she had known of any of the plans made by the good wizard (_Sorcerer_, he could almost hear Strange correcting him), she would have done everything she could to somehow, in some way, interfere, whether for good or ill is yet to be seen. The only reason Thor answered was because the deed was done and the Avengers deserved to know about Strange's plan. To the extent that Thor knew of it, at the very least.

"He asked Eitri to make a specific item for him in the forge of Nivadellir. He and Eitri spent many hours as Strange told him what it is he needed and persuading Eitri that it is needed. He was done just before he had to return to Earth abruptly because friend Stark was attacked by that rouge sorcerer. Eitri didn't tell me what he was expected to make. He took his new freedom of his hands as a chance to avenge his people, to make up for creating the Infinity Gauntlet in the first place-"

"_He_ created the Gauntlet?!" Everyone made a face at Rogers' hypocritical reaction of half shock, half accusation. Not even Natasha was willing to deal with him. The Dora Milaje guarding him - the only reason he wasn't locked up or executed was because Shuri had decided he'll be used as cannon fodder and, if he survives, will later be brought before the world as the one who had allowed this to happen in the first place; Thor liked her. She was a vindictive little thing. And she was _very_ protective of Stark at his most vulnerable - zapped him with a tranquilizer shock stick thing. Thor would normally feel for whatever poor bastard was on the receiving end of such treatment. But not for Rogers. "You left him unsupervised!? He could be making another as we speak!"

"_Quiet_!" Hissed Okoye as she shoved him to the floor, having gotten fed up with his shit by now. When he went to speak again regardless of her warning, she zapped him again, _harder_. The Captain was left convulsing on the floor from the strength of the shock. Many in the room looked rightly vindictive.

"As Strange's plan went along with Eitri's motives," Thor continued once that was done. "Eitri had Rabbit, Tree and myself help him restart the forge. We had a few things to fix, which is why we were so late in coming to battle. But I now have Stormbreaker - a Thanos-killing weapon - and that which Strange has ordered from Eitri. Unfortunately," Thor looked away from the room watching him and his tired eyes - one of which was a fake and brown; he wondered if Loki will hate it, briefly, or if he'll be indifferent - landed on Stark, still and asleep in the hospital bed. He was prognosed to sleep until late tomorrow afternoon, the rest needed in order for his body to recover from the strain of such a far away trip. He's really interested in how and when Stark learned magic. "I arrived far too late, for both the delivery and the battle. For a while, I feared all hope was lost. But I have some hope now. Strange has obviously informed Stark of his plan, so there is a chance yet for us to make things right."

"So we just need to wait for Tony to wake up." Shuri said with some form of relief.

"We shouldn't count on their plans so much." Thor could not believe Rogers was this _stupid_. No _wonder_ Loki didn't take the Avengers seriously if Rogers was the first Avenger he met. "Their planning so far hasn't worked."

"Because of _you_." They all jumped at the new voice and whirled around to face the unimpressed, unamused looking Wong, if Thor remembered Strange's companion's name right. The Asian sorcerer took a loot at the room with little interest and instead settled his eyes on the unconscious Tony Stark with Strange's cape covering him, almost protectively. _Definitely_ protectively. Thor had been on the receiving end of its protectiveness when he had approached Stark earlier. "The magical shielding we put in place protected the satellites from physical damage and kept them from sight while preventing ordinary portals and the Bifrost from entering Earth's atmosphere. Stark's satellites had the duty of keeping out anything Infinity Stone related. It was tested. The shielding _worked_. Had you not messed with it, it would have kept Thanos out. Probably for many years to come, Thanos would not have arrived to Earth. He'd have four infinity Stones but the remaining two would have stayed on Earth, _protected_."

"The satellites would eventually stop working." The blond supersoldier insisted stubbornly, even with his face kissing the floor. "They'd malfunction."

Captain Marvel snorted, crossing her arms. The gesture was echoed by Rhodes, Banner, Shuri and even Nebula. Natasha looked ashamed to have chosen the man over friend Stark. The Dora Milaje looked insulted on their princess' behalf. "Stark tech doesn't malfunction. Ever. I've seen it take a beating that would put every army on Earth to shame and come out with nary a scratch." Rhodes informed the Captain, also insulted on the behalf of Tony. "Tony's been working on this with the greatest minds in the world. The satellites were designed to be indestructible, incorruptible and unbreakable. Stark tech don't malfunction."

"Yes, I've seen how well that worked with JARVIS and Ultron. Even Vision-" Steve cut himself off with a gasp as the weapons all charged and shocked him at once.

"Pardon me," the overly polite, raspy voice of Tony Stark said and they all turned their wide eyes to the very much awake man with his glowing blue eyes on the hospital bed, sarcasm dripping from every word. "But I just ... slipped." Thor didn't bother fighting back a grin. The way Stark said it reminded him very much of the way Strange had said it when Thor had returned to the New York Sanctum for the third time, regarding some thing or the other about Strange's relation to Stark. No wonder they got along so fiercely.

No one seemed to mind Stark's intervention. Vision's near loss had been a hard hit to them all. And Stark's consciousness, while a shock - never a surprise; if you know the Man of Iron as long as they have, then you know to expect the impossible from the man because it was definitely going to happen either way - wad also a great relief.

Wong nodded to Stark, understanding and something like loss on his face when Stark's remorseful eyes, back to brown, settled on his face. "It was the only way."

"Then we'll make it the right way." Stark said with all the fire that Thor had gotten so familiar with. Stark's rage was both burning and as icy as Jotenheim. But his will to fight was strong enough a fire to kindle everyone else's determination as well. His surety that there was a way meant that there _will_ be a way. Even if Stark had to turn the universe onto its head to _make_ it. "How long until we can fight?"

"Wakanda is ready," Shuri reassured, squeezing the genius' hand.

"The Avengers are ready, too." Carol said with a nod. "But we'll need to bring the fight to Thanos. No one knows where he is but we can't fight him here again. I am sure I can get the Skrull to help us-"

"No," Tony interrupted. "This time, Thanos has to come to us. Finding him might take too long. I want this undone _now_."

"We can't fight without backup, Tony." Romanoff reasoned. Or tried to. It sounded too scolding for Stark to listen to her. And he didn't, turning to Wong instead.

"The sorcerers are ready to defend the planet." The Asian man replied to the look. "But we lack the Sorcerer Supreme. Even if only in name, we need to name another, however temporary it may be. The mystic world will not care for the devastation of the material one. The threats will not stop. The lack of a Sorcerer Supreme will only add to our problems."

Thor could see by the look on the hospitalized billionaire's face that he didn't like it, even if he conceded. "Then do it. Name some of the current Masters a temporary Sorcerer Supreme and prepare for a battle."

But Wong only shook his head. "The new Sorcerer Supreme must be the shining pupil of the _last_ Sorcerer Supreme. For the Ancient One, that was Stephen and the other Masters voted and accepted him. Since he was far from finished with his training, they then took it upon themselves to teach him until he was ready, and so Earth had a new Sorcerer Supreme."

"Then why not go that way now?" Asked Bruce with a frown of confusion on his face.

"Aside from the fact that it is the end of the universe is still very much hanging over our heads - what Thanos has done is _far_ from creating balance - and the fact that half of the Masters has disappeared with the snap, Stephen's best student and the only one with enough power to take up his position is you, Tony Stark." Wong turned to the brunet in question and inclined his head. "The Masters agreed. However undertrained you are, you are currently the strongest sorcerer on Earth. You are the temporary Sorcerer Supreme of Earth."

Thor didn't know whether to laugh or to cry at the irony of it all. The Man of Iron, the one man Thor knew who would rather pretend magic doesn't exist at all, was Earth's magical protector. The others in the room were not helping with the expressions of disbelief, as though the thought of Tony being entrusted with such an important task was inconceivable.

"Will you accept?"

"I was under the impression that I can't exactly choose." Stark, who only snapped out of his own shock at being called Strange's best student, said tiredly at Wong's question. Wong just gave him a look.

"You can always decline. But I doubt you would."

"Of course I wouldn't," Tony all but snapped, running a hand through his messy bed head. "But it's not needed. Because I'm reversing this. I'm getting him back. I'm getting them _all_ back. I promise you that much."

"The word of the Sorcerer Supreme is not one to take lightly, Stark. It is binding down to your very soul. It must be kept." The other sorcerer in the room warned and Stark just smiled at that.

"Good. Then that means Stephen hasn't lost his mind after all." He nodded and made to leave the bed, startling Bruce and Shuri into action to restrain him but Nebula helped him up. "It's a good thing I plan on making sure both of us keep our word."

"How do you plan to do that?" Banner asked curiously, stepping back as the Cloak of Levitation wrapped around Tony's shoulders to take most of his weight when he's standing.

"Well, first I'm officially activating Last Dying Breath protocol, in case we need it." He replied, but it was clear he was talking to his creation, JARVIS, from how he did not expect a reply from them. He just continued talking. "Then I'll have to find something interesting enough for Thanos to come after. I'm sure Kamar-Taj has some interesting artifacts that would draw Thanos' attention. Anything that might suggest a possible reversal will have him coming here in a second. Then I need to try and figure out just _what _Stephen's plan was. Wong will, of course, help me since he actually _knows _a _lot _more than I do." Thor found that it sounded like half an accusation but Wong gave no reaction. He just nodded his assent.

Thor decided to pipe up, now that plans were being made and discussed. "I may be in the possession of something that is essential to Strange's plan, friend Stark." Curious brown eyes turned to him and Thor fidgeted a bit, still very much ashamed for having taken so long to deliver Strange's order from Nivadellir. "Eitri the dwarf king has made it as a part of a bargain-" Both Tony and Wong snorted at that, making Thor frown but they didn't elaborate. He ignored it and continued his explanation. "And Strange insisted I bring it to Earth. It's not complete, Eitri said. Strange had insisted that only _you _can complete it."

"What is it?" Friend Stark asked curiously, finally rightening himself on his own two feet without the help of Nebula. She let go of him but stayed close by, ready to catch him should the need arise. It was interesting how so little was needed for them to become so close. Then again, Stark had always done better with machines and Nebula was definitely part machine for a while now.

Thor knew he was not much of a magic user. That was always Loki's forte. But that did not mean that Thor was a hopeless case. He knew the most basic of spells for storage - and only because Loki had insisted. Thor will admit that he relied on his strength too much but Loki was stubborn and refused to let Thor not learn _this_ much at least. So the trickster god went and taught Thor how to store items in a pocket dimension. Thor rarely used it but it had come in handy when he realized Stark was nowhere on the Wakandan battlefield. So he knew how to store things in the pocket dimension Loki made for him and he reached into it now, grasping the box Eitri had put his creation into, pulling it out and presenting it to Stark now.

Tony took the box - a beautiful thing made of a black metal that Thor did not immediately recognize but knew had to be pretty valuable and probably quite strong for Eitri to use it as a container for Strange's important order - with cautious, careful fingers, inquisitively tracing the material. A scanner came to life from the other side of the room and most of the people in the room jumped in surprise while Stark's eyes started glowing blue again. Thor noticed that their color greatly resembled the light in Tony's chest but he didn't comment on it. Judging by the raised eyebrow of Earth's finest blacksmith, Stark was impressed and shocked, at least by the box. Thor didn't really know what was inside. Eitri hadn't allowed anyone to see his project.

But Stark now opened it and, for the first time, the contents of the box was up for the world to see. And Thor knows he's not the only one who was staring in both wonder and confusion at what they were seeing. He glanced at Stark and didn't know what the man was feeling about the current situation, as his face was expressionless, eyes roving over the item that Strange had ordered of Eitri and sent to him to finish it. The King of New Asgard couldn't really see what there was to add or do. It looked finished to his eye but he did not doubt that someone a bit smarter than him - not that Thor was stupid; he knew he was oblivious to certain things and this was probably just one of those things - but even Bruce and the Wakandan princess looked stumped as to what else could be done for the piece before them.

Rogers, though, looked ready to comment on something again, having that disapproving look on his face, but the message over the speaker system beat him to it, catching Stark's attention more firmly than anything else could have.

"Sir, Vision is awake. He asks for you." JARVIS announced, probably for their benefit so they would leave Tony alone, Thor theorized. Stark was out of the room with the box in hand before anyone could say another word. Leaving behind a room of people who didn't know how to react to what had just happened. Well, aside from Nebula. She had rushed out with Wong after the Cloak wearing genius. The Avengers all turned to look at Thor before Shuri followed after the engineer, leaving Thor to deal with the questions the others would no doubt ask. Thor felt a headache forming already.

At least the Rabbit had stayed.

Thor definitely needed some intelligent support.


	40. Chapter 40

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

It was a gauntlet.

A gold gleaming, inercrate, human sized, fingerless gauntlet.

Not at all glove-like, like Thanos' was.

No, this gauntlet reminded him of something he would see on a medieval knight, over a leather glove. No palm plating, no finger plating, just a sheet of metal covering the back of the hand with three straps to secure the plating in place: one around the wrist, one around the part of the palm just after the thumb and one just before the fingers began. It covered the back of the hand up to the knuckles and looked snug and tight, but not uncomfortably so. In fact, if Tony didn't know better, he'd say the metal was amendable. As though it will mold to the hand of the wearer. And the thing gave off rather interesting vibes, some of the most unique energy readings Tony has ever scanned and that included Strange's magic and the Infinity Stones.

But what interested him the most was the clue Strange had left for him as to what it was that he expected Tony to do. To most, the triangle in the center of the plating on the back of the hand, in the middle of six slots obviously meant for the six Infinity Stones, might look like nothing more than decoration to anyone else in the world, in the entire fucking universe, but it spoke volumes to Tony. Because only _he_ knew what would fit into _that_ spot.

And only he could provide it.

Which is how he found himself back in his lab at the Stark Tower in New York, dismantling one of his old suits' Arc Reactors, millions of miles away from Wakanda and the other Avengers, save the remaining New and Young Avengers still in New York. Susan was with him in the Tower, no longer able to take it being alone in an empty home. Clint and Scott were still with Hope and the others at the Compound. Tony refused to let any of them know he was here - they'd swarm the place and he needed them safe in that damned bunker, no matter what - but he couldn't turn Susan away. He was the only one left of her old life, having attended MIT together, once upon a time. She was the one who had relentlessly searched for whose beacon had deactivated the shielding and she was barely functioning when she collapsed into Tony's arms yesterday, crying her heart out. She was catching up on her sleep under the watchful eyes of Nebula while Tony worked on the task Stephen had set for him.

Vision was resting on the couch behind him, acting as human as he had ever had before. When he had woken up and everyone had eventually piled into his room in Wakanda, Tony remembered snapping a demand to know just _whose _bright idea it was to try and _destroy _an Infinity Stone. He was not at all surprised to hear it was Rogers but he was half surprised that they had let him make such a stupid decision in the first place. Then he remembered that, until Susan and Tony revealed what Rogers had done, the others had trusted him inexplicably. They hadn't seen a deeply flawed man willing to burn the world to the ground to protect one single man, damn the consequences. A man who would endanger half of the universe because he wanted to prove he was right.

Vision had been against it. SARAH and JOCASTA protested the course of action but Happy was too far away to support his partner AI and Rhodey's protests were ignored as soon as they were on Wakandan soil. Rhodey couldn't know whether Maximoff had really been near Vision just as protection, since she had proven capable to fight the Black Order before, or if Rogers had organized it so she could be close by to try and destroy the Mind Stone. Shuri didn't know and Vision was too busy being subjected to the removal of the Mind Stone to notice. Still, Vision was _greatly_ relieved to see Tony again. The android had refused to let the genius out of his sight since, leaving Wakanda with Tony, Nebula and Wong. He had nearly collapsed with relief when they found themselves in the familiar comfort of Tony's workshop, the chirping beeps of happy robots lulling him to sleep.

Wong had returned to the Sanctum with a promise to return shortly, as soon as he informs the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj that Earth indeed did have a temporary Sorcerer Supreme. Tony told him to take his time. The Arc Reactor he was dismantling will take some time before it was ready to give up its precious Starkenium core for it to be added to the new Infinity Gauntlet. The _real_ gauntlet, not the glove Thanos wore. They'll have to have a discussion on distinguishing those two. Tony has a fairly good idea of as to just _why_ the Starkenium was needed. Thor had said that Thanos' Gauntlet/Glove had been fried after such an intense use of the Infinity Stones so Tony figured embedding Starkenium into _their_ Gauntlet will prevent the Stones from frying whoever's hand off when they use the Stones to reverse the Snap. The energy that Starkenium emitted easily resisted the influence of whatever Infinity Stone tried to interact with it. Embedding it into the Gauntlet itself will make the Gauntlet resistant to the backlash of such a power surge. And if the Gauntlet is resistant, than the wearer will be safe, too. Whether Strange thought up all of this by himself or saw it in some alternate future, Tony didn't know but the plan was sound enough.

He looked up from where he was freeing the Starkenium core of the last of the clasps that kept it in place when JARVIS informed him he had an incoming call. From Harley of all people. Not at all surprising, but Tony was tempted to not reply. He desperately wanted to check up on everyone in the bunker beneath the Compound, to get in touch with all the people who had been asking for him - for _him_, because they trusted _him_ to fix this - and to reassure himself that not all of his friends were gone. But he knew time was of the essence - he could _feel_ the disbalance in the universe. The longer this went on, the harder it will be to fix things. Worlds were seeping into each other, Wong had told him. If he doesn't reverse this within the next forty eight hours, he'll have to concentrate solely on his new and numerous responsibilities as the Sorcerer Supreme of Earth. After a month, Stephen will be declared forever lost and Tony will have to take on all of his responsibilities and the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme forever. He'll be the new Sorcerer Supreme in a world that is falling apart no matter what they do.

The only way to save them all was for Tony to figure out how to fix this, how to bring back the balance to the multiverse in general by returning the half that Thanos had stolen. And he still didn't have the slightest clue as to how to go about that, since Stephen had never told Tony anything about his plan beyond the fact that Tony was essential to it. Seeing as how Starkenium was needed to make the new Gauntlet fully functional, Tony could see where he was coming from. But the question of how they were going to _find_ Thanos - getting to him was easy with Thor's new axe, Stormbreaker, that possessed the power to call upon the Bifrost - was still up in the air, let alone how they were going to get the Infinity Stones from his Glove - because it _was_ a damned _Glove_ compared to what Tony was currently working with - to the new Gauntlet. Tony had to focus on that, no matter how much he wanted to answer the call and speak with Harley, Tony knew he couldn't afford to dilly dally.

So he denied the call, telling JARVIS to reassure Harley Tony was fine but busy preparing for a battle and couldn't talk right now. Expecting his AI to do just that, Tony nearly jumped out of his skin when JARVIS instead connected the kid through. He glared up at JARVIS' main camera in the lab, but his co-pilot was not at all apologetic for what he had done.

"I greatly disagree with your assessment that you should postpone your talk, Sir. Young Mr Keener deserves to know that he has not lost you, too."

"Tony!" Said kid exclaimed with relief, eyes shinning with unshed tears, red tear tracks betraying that he had, in fact, cried at some point and quite a lot, by the looks of it. Harley looked ten years older than the last time Ton had seen him and it made the engineer's heart clench because he couldn't have prevented this. He couldn't have stopped Peter from turning to dust and he couldn't have stopped Harley's grief. It made him sick in the stomach but he refrained from hurling up what little food he had managed to eat and keep down once he had seen just how many people they had lost. Though some miracle, Pepper and Happy were still here, but that didn't mean they hadn't lost far too many people. Seeing Harley, red eyed, teary, grieving for his mother and sister just drove home the fact that Tony had failed and that he had to fix it somehow. But JARVIS was right. He can't ignore the kid. He'd already lost his mother and sister and what was essentially his brother. He didn't deserve to lose his father figure, too.

"Hey, Harl. I won't ask the stupid question of how you're doing." The Mechanic said by greeting, managing the smallest of smiles for the first kid he had ever unofficially adopted. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm fine, Tony," the boy replied, worry seeping into his words. "I'm not the one who just came back from the other side of the universe." He hesitated, bitting his lip as he looked at Stark through his eyelashes. "Are _you _okay?"

Tony sighed, paused in his work long enough to run a hand through his hair before replying tiredly. "I wish I could say yeah, but I'd be lying through my teeth and I just ... I don't have the energy for that big of a lie right now. Too much has happened for me to deal you any more bullshit. Besides, you're a smart kid. You can tell I am obviously _not _okay." He locked eyes with Harley on the holomonitor, trying to imprint his next words into Harley's brain with certainty that they will become true. "But I will be, I think, soon enough. Strange had a contingency for this and I am currently working on it."

Harley nodded, looking insure what to say to that before asking something else, something that no one had bothered to ask so far and Tony had been quite content to let that conversation slide. "What happened out there, Tony?"

Stark sighed and sagged into his chair, suddenly feeling ages older and no Extremis in his body to give him the strength to sit up. "We lost the battle out there, kid. We lost. That's what happened. But that was just a battle. There's a war still going on. Which is why I need you lot to stay there where it's safe-"

"No way, Tony." Clint Barton interrupted, appearing behind Harley on the monitoring hologram. "This isn't just your and Cap's fight, you know. We're Avengers, too, and this requires a lot more hands on deck than you currently have. Isn't that why you revised the Accords to accommodate so many different people?" The archer, grieving his own loss, still managed to look on with confidence and determination through the holoprojector. "You're not alone, Tin Head. You still have a team."

"This is too dangerous a fight for the kids and you and Scott are needed elsewhere." Tony insisted, frowning at the ex agent of SHIELD. Now that he thinks about it, he should probably check in with Coulson. After all, Fury and Hill had both disappeared in the Snap.

"Like hell are you keeping us away!" Kamala and Dante yelled together, appearing on the screen with what remained of the mutant kids Tony had been housing for the last couple of months. They were all rightfully grief stricken but every single one of them had a stubborn glint in their eyes that Tony recognized all too well. "We lost people, too! We can fight, too! You _need _us!"

"If you want to fix this, however it is you're gonna do it, you're going to need backup, Stark," Scott said, him and a determined Hope appearing on the screen, too. Hank had also been dusted, so to say, when Thanos snapped his fingers. He and many other great minds.

"We all want to help, however we can, Tony." The Wasp said with determination and steel in her voice.

"Give me and Harley a suit, Tony." Said man wasn't even surprised anymore to see Pepper and Happy there, as well as all the other kids and adults that had survived the Snap. Pepper's request, though, took him aback a little. He wanted to deny it but he knew he couldn't. "I know you have some custom made for us ready. Let us fight by your side for once, instead of mostly watching from the sidelines. You don't have to protect the world all alone."

"Call the mutants and the Inhumans." Dante insisted. "They'll fight. Magneto has been itching for it and the royal family is desperate to get King Black Bolt back."

"The Asgardians, too." Jane Foster said with a thick voice. "They're a warrior's people and their contribution to whatever fight is going to eventually happen will be indispensable."

"And we want to help however we can." Betty and May insisted together, nodding their heads as if to confirm it already.

"Please let us help, Tony." Tony was well aware Susan and Nebula had walked down into the lab and that Vision was now awake when Harley all but begged. He _did _beg. Tony clenched his fists and felt the Cloak, still around his shoulders, give him a comforting squeeze.

He knew their help will be invaluable. He knew they all knew how to take care of themselves. But he was still scared of losing any more people than they had already lost. Could he send them out to almost certain death? Especially when they all seemed to trust in him so much?

_"Fourteen million six hundred and five."_

_"One."_

_"We're in the endgame now."_

_"Tony, there was no other way."_

Three hands landed on his shoulders and Susan, Nebula and Vision gave them a squeeze as Tony took a deep breath. "JARVIS, wake up SHERLY and tell FRIDAY she is to stay with Pepper in the Rescue suit. Prepare the Mark XIII version 2 for Harley. Have that new updated bow and arrows delivered to Clint, as well as that new body armor I've been working on. Contact Shuri and the others. Tell them we need to meet up and discuss battle plans. Patch me through to the X-Men, the Brotherhood, the Inhumans and the Asgardain palace. Call New SHIELD and inform them a storm is coming." He looked at the elated faces on the other side of the conversation. "It's time to end this."

He looked down at the Arc Reactor and the new Gauntlet and quickly pulled out the Starkenium. Without further ado, he placed the core into its designated place and set things into motion, once and for all.

_'I hope you know what you're doing, Doc.'_ He thought to himself as he saw the entire Gauntlet light up at first contact with the Starkenium. The hidden mechanism or whatever was in the Gauntlet accepted it immediately and closed around it, holding it tightly in place. The triangle glowed up at the four gathered in the lab and their companions over the feed. _'Because the fate of the universe depends on this and I have no clue what I am.'_

"Avengers, assemble."

00000

The message reached everyone and they soon all found themselves in the Gobi Desert, despite some protests. Tony had refused to let the fight happen in Wakanda, despite Shuri's protests that Wakanda could take it, so they had set up camp in the Gobi Desert, intent on somehow catching Thanos' attention and making him come to _them_. But even as battle plans were being made, the now finished Gauntlet sitting in front of Tony in the same box Eitri had sent it in held all of the attention.

"What are we supposed to do with it?" Scott finally asked the question that was on - almost - everyone's mind since Tony had stepped through his blue sparking portal with it under hand. Nebula, naturally, turned to look at said genius immediately, expecting an answer from him. To be expected, he supposed, since she not only didn't know or really trust any of the others and she had been there when Stephen had surrendered the Time Stone in exchange for Tony's life. A crazy move, when all things are considered since Tony was a simple human, no matter how well he had held up against Thanos.

"As far as I understand, this thing works a lot like the one Thanos has, only the pull and hold of this," Tony gestured towards the open box in front of himself. "To the Infinity Stones is theoretically at least ten times stronger, which is saying something since the original one was meant to hold those things for, like, the most taxing deed in the multiverse. We just need to get this thing close to the Infinity Stones and this thing will pull them in. Only problem?" He frowned, looking down at the gleaming Gauntlet. "We have to have one first. Fully attached, fully integrated, fully under control. But after that, it's mostly easy sailing. We just need to get whoever wears this close to Thanos."

"How close?" Susan asked, frowning at the one thing that can save them all.

"_Extremely_ close," Wong replied, the sorcerers they could spare for the fight nodding their assent.

"A few centimeters at the very least." Tony specified, crossing his arms as he regarded them all. "Thanos' Gauntlet still has a strong pull but this one has an even stronger one. Doesn't mean the proximity can be changed. The closer the two Gauntlets are, the transaction will be that much easier."

"You said we'd need one Stone first, for it to even work." Rocket pointed out, standing on the table itself in order to see everyone and everything. He was eying the box and Tony felt the sudden need to take both box and its contents far away from the klepto-raccoon. "How are we supposed to even do that to begin with? If it won't work with at least one Stone in it, it's a waste of time trying to get the others."

"I don't know yet." Stark admitted with a shrug, standing between Vision and Nebula. There was no longer a New, Young or Rouge Avengers side. Everyone who was here was an Avenger. New SHIELD, Wakanada's warriors and the Dora Milaje, Susan, the mutants, the Asgardians, the sorcerers and the Inhumans, Danny, the secret spy society within SI and even Deadpool. They were all Avengers now.

_'If we can't save the Earth, you can be damn sure we'll avenge it.'_ Those had been his exact words to Loki when Thanos' army first came to Earth. Now it was coming to fruition. Hopefully, they can do it.

"Well, whose gonna wear the shiny glove?" Deadpool, in true Deadpool fashion, asked, breaking the tense moment when he made grabby hands at the box and Tony had to pull it out of the way. Nebula had her sword out and ready to cut the man in half - not that it would do anything to him, the guy was practically immortal - but Magneto pulled him away with a snarl by the scuff of his neck.

"He does have a point," the entire room groaned when Rogers spoke up. Tony swears the guy was still alive only because Tony himself had insisted that they could just throw him at Thanos when the fight comes. "Someone will have to wear it."

"It has to be someone who's really strong because that those things make people go boom when they're touched." Rocket deduced with a nod and crossed arms across his chest.

"An Asgardian, then. Or the Hulk." Romanoff mirrored the animal's stance but Bruce shook his head.

"I don't think Hulk has the strength to stand up to that sort of power. I mean,sure, he's physically strong, but he'd probably be driven mad from that kind of power."

"And destroy the rest of the universe." One of the sorcerers said with a grim look on her face. The other sorcerers nodded in agreement.

"How about Vision, then? He could handle the Mind Stone pretty well." Clint suggested, nodding to the red andriod, who only shook his head.

"I would be far from a good choice. I could only barely handle the Mind Stone. It kept acting up whenever the other Stones were in relatively close proximity. I wouldn't be ale to handle all of them."

"Stephen probably could. He's got great core control," Tony mused to himself, missing the look Wong sent his way. "Anyway, whoever gets the Gauntlet, gets it for good. It has a mechanism to close around someone's hand forever and there are enough protective wards put into it to prevent a supernova from harming the wearer. Not even the Stones themselves could harm whoever wears it."

"Yes, Eitri said something about that. Apparently, the universe has made two contenders for the Infinity Stones. Thanos is one. Strange said he knew who the other one was but that he can't say." Thor revealed, fidgeting between Bruce and Jane Foster. The two exes were having trouble looking each other in the eye at the moment, but Tony has no doubt, if they succeed and survive in this, that they might get back together.

"He made it pretty obvious who it was intended for." Wong stated, eyes never leaving Tony. Thor was the only one who saw it, though, and realization seemed to dawn on the Asgardian king, as he swiftly left his place between the two scientists and made his way around the table.

"It's obviously Thor." Someone said but Tony wasn't paying attention anymore, eyes locked on the new Gauntlet itself and the glowing triangle in it. Something about it called to him. He was tempted to touch it again. While he had been working on it, he had been touching it and he had sworn the thing was tingling underneath his fingers. He had brushed it off as a consequence of the magic he felt within it, but he wondered if there had been something else.

"Thor it is," he heard someone say decisively and looked up only when he felt said blond stand behind him, reaching forward for the Gauntlet. Tony made to move away but Thor grabbed his wrist and held him in place. Brown eyes met blue, their owner shocked at the sudden tight grip, but the King of Asgard ignored that and simply picked up the Gauntlet.

"The doctor is a strange man," a few present snorted at the pun, unintended or not, but Thor didn't crack into a smile. "With many secrets. I often could not understand him, when he deigned to speak with me." Tony was aware that Nebula was watching with interest. The only witness to what had happened on Titan and she was watching with a knowing glint in her eyes. Understanding. Tony wished he knew what it is that she understood because he was, quite frankly, lost right now. "But he has never made it a secret that one person was the key to our salvation. That one person, above all others, was necessary and must survive." Thor brought up Tony's hand to eye-level, looking over the left hand, the hand and the arm that had went through so much abuse since Tony became Iron Man. The hand that the Gauntlet was meant to rest on. "I think Strange knew from day one whom it must be to face Thanos and he has obviously been preparing this person."

"What are you talking about, Thor?" Steve asked, making to move closer to the two but Nebula drew her weapons again and intercepted him while Harley, Pepper and Rhodey activated their weapons systems to keep Rogers locked.

Thor didn't break eye contact as he brought up his other hand, holding the gleaming and glowing new Gauntlet up for everyone to see. "This." And before anyone could react or stop him - not that they could, with how the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj were ready to prevent that, mandalas glowing in spells around their wrists and hands - the Thunder God slapped the Gauntlet on Tony's wrist and it closed securely around the genius' hand.

And the world was washed away by a blinding light.


	41. Chapter 41

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

Tony didn't know what was happening. One moment, the room was perfectly normal, but then the next, when the Gauntlet snapped snugly around his hand and lower wrist, there was a sudden bright light that nearly blinded everyone in the room. For a moment, it was like eternity flashed before his eyes - don't ask him how he knows what that feels like to compare it to, he just does, for some incomprehensible reason - and he was hurtling through space - that was at least somewhat familiar through imperial experience he _can_ explain and remember - before he was slammed back to Earth, feeling like his soul had just returned from an astral projection that had lasted hours. But when he blinked open his glowing blue eyes, JARVIS informed him that only a handful of seconds had passed. And when he looked at the still dazedly blinking Avengers around him, Tony knew that was true, no matter how disoriented he felt.

"What the hell just happened?" Clint groused, rubbing at his eyes to alleviate the sensitivity he now felt due to that flash of intense light. He wasn't the only one groaning and moaning about the visual assault they had all just been through. In fact, _everyone_ was complaining. Tony just kind of felt sorry for those who had enhanced eye sight. This would be ten times worse for them.

"Thor! Why'd you do that!?" Rogers screamed in rage, lunging himself at the Thunder God, wrestling him to the ground and trying to get him into a headlock. "That was our only hope of fixing this and you _ruined_ it! Now I'll never get Bucky back! All our friends are gone for _good_ because of _you_!"

"_You're_ one to talk!" Shuri finally snapped, activating some sort of blasters and aiming them at Rogers. "If you'd just stopped being a fucking prick, none of this would have been happening in the first place!"

"Language-"

"FUCK YOU!" The entire room sans Tony, Nebula and Vision screamed in one voice, the Dora Milaje taking great pleasure in zapping the blond supersoldier again. Nebula and Vision were a bit busy keeping Tony on his feet while the genius himself had never felt so disoriented in his life as he did at that moment. Things felt ... different. The universe had stabilized a little. Even if temporarily. It seems that Thor had made a good call because they have just bought themselves some time, as far as the stability of the multiverse was concerned. Reality was just that bit safer. It probably isn't enough - it's really not - and it won't last long - how could it? Half of the life in the universe was still missing! - but they had a chance. Judging by the looks the sorcerers were giving him, the temporary Sorcerer Supreme, they had felt it, too, and they weren't the least bit surprised by this outcome.

Tony shuddered to think what would have happened had someone else been given the Gauntlet.

_'Wait!'_ A panicked part of his brain shouted at the genius, who was too busy frowning at something glowing, drawing his eye, just beyond his field of vision. No one seemed to have noticed it. Then again, they were kind of busy fighting amongst themselves and with Rogers' hypocrisy. _'Didn't Wong say something about two perfect contenders for the Infinity Stones or something!?'_ Then why did the Gauntlet accept _Tony_? Shouldn't it have attached itself only to the second contender?

_"For a supposed certified genius who can give lectures when utterly intoxicated, it is surprising how stupid you can be at times, Stark."_ Tony flinched physically at the familiar voice that he had not heard once outside of his memories and nightmares in the past decade because the owner of said voice was _dead_. Yet he was hearing it now, whispering not into his ear but ... Into his very _soul_. Tony looked around, trying to see if anyone else had heard the voice or if the sorcerers could sense a presence that he had somehow overlooked in his limited experience. He had, after all, been practicing only a handful of weeks and while he had somehow managed to open a portal from Titan to Earth, he was far from an expert in all things magic. He may be the new - temporary - Sorcerer Supreme, but he was far from trained enough. But all the other sorcerers, beyond looking concerned by his jerk, didn't seem to be picking up on anything else, which was worrisome. And yet Tony didn't feel all that worried. _"You should be. You might be losing your mind."_

_'As though it hasn't been lost before,'_ Tony snarked back at the voice, scanning the room and searching for the source of the voice. He ignored how only JARVIS seemed able to reach him, FRIDAY's voice almost as far away as KAREN's, VERONICA's, SARAH's, JOCASTA's and SHERLY's. He ignored his greatest creation's worried calls and instead focused on the strange energy he could feel just ... _just_ beyond his reach. It was there, teasing him with its presence, but not close or tangible enough to touch.

Not yet.

_"Perhaps it has, but I rather doubt it. You left that cave with it, after all."_ The familiar male, accented voice retorted and Tony inhaled a deep, sharp breath. _"I have been watching you, Stark. You have done some remarkable things."_

_'Not nearly enough.'_ Tony protested, eyes fixed on a point right across from him, within arm's reach, glowing a pretty orange. It reminded him, quite frankly, of the shade that JARVIS' holographic presentation took on and was, as such, far too comforting and familiar for something so foreign and potentially dangerous had any right to be. Tony could easily feel the power coming from that small point so close and yet so far away and he was both humbled and drawn in to it. He felt no hesitation or fear and yet he _did_ stall so as to not reach out for it.

_"Then it is time to do that much more,"_ the specter's voice stated and Tony had a feeling that a hand was outstretched to him. Waiting for him to take it. To make his decision. It suddenly felt like he was in that damned cave in Afghanistan again, a car battery attached to his chest and a week to live, odds stacked highly against him. This same voice had offered him sanity back then, too. A purpose. A goal. Had offered him a _legacy_ that he won't be ashamed or regretful of. It was offering him something, too. A way to fix this. To fix _everything_ Thanos had broken. _"There is a way. A chance. Will you take it?"_

Tony reached for the orange light, as swiftly and as unexpectedly as the Gauntlet had lit up and the world around him was simply _gone_.

_When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in a strange Neverland with orange skies and orange waters, stretching out for eternity, into infinity. There were no borders here, no rules, no laws, no clear distinction between one thing and the other and yet Tony felt perfectly welcome and at home here. How odd, that. He couldn't see anything or anyone, stretching on for miles and miles and miles. Was there even any real concept of distance, of _space_ here? Wherever here was, anyway._

_He was standing alone, feet touching the surface of water but never sinking into it, defying any laws of gravity or physics - then again, there were _no_ laws here - as he surveyed his surroundings. He couldn't feel Extremis or his AIs, so foreign a sensation after months of having them constantly in his head. He swears he can still ... hear them, but it's like their comforting voices were millions of miles away, under water and Tony was only pressing his ear just bellow the surface. Or was it the other way around? Was _Tony_ deeper than his copilot and baby girl can reach him? He somehow wouldn't be surprised. Not even JARVIS, who had stayed directly connected to Tony when it had happened, could pick up the orange light, that voice that brought back memories that Tony both hated and cherished and the energy emitting from the light._

_But Tony had. Just as he was feeling and sensing the energies that flowed here - once again, wherever _here_ was - and now - was there even time in here? - stimulating the senses that Stephen had helped him discover, tune and train. Tony could only compare this feeling to entering the astral realm, only far more intense. In here ... It felt as though his soul was bared _completely_. The astral realm possessed some sort of ... barrier, he guessed, or a boarder with the physical plane of existence. It's why an astral projection can marginally interact with the 'real world' despite having no corporal form at the time. He guessed this was the opposite side of _that_ boarder, beyond the astral realm, because here it felt so much more _real_. He couldn't quite explain it. He'd never experienced something quite like this ... Or at least he thinks he hadn't. If he did, he couldn't quite remember. It _was_ comforting, though. It felt like the energy of this place was wrapping around him, welcoming him, caressing him, _calling_ to him ... Yes, now that he thinks about it, he _had_ felt something similar, once or twice. If only he could put his finger on it when and how ..._

_"I am glad to see that you have accepted," the same voice as before said in way of greeting and it, too, wrapped around Tony like a comforting blanket. "Though I had no doubt you'd do it. The last act of defiance of the great Tony Stark ... That has a long time yet until it comes to that one moment." Tony turned around, noting the absence of the Cloak of Levitation as he did so, to face the owner of the voice. "It is good to see you again, my friend."_

_"Yeah," the genius engineer said, eyes burning with unshed tears and fists clenching - which is when he noticed that the new Gauntlet was still strapped to his hand - as he looked at the middle aged man with gentle, kind, wise eyes shinning behind rectangular glasses, smiling at him. "It's been too long, Yinsen."_

_Ho Yinsen chuckled and shook his head. "Not nearly long enough." The dead man disagreed. "I had hoped to not see you for many years to come. The world _needs_ you yet. The dead do not."_

_"I _should_ be dead." Stark countered, recalling how many times he had already defied death. He should have died four times in Afghanistan at the very least, what with the shrapnel, the open heart surgery in a cave, the waterboarding and his crash landing after his escape. The testing of his suit - both during the testing stages of the repulsor systems and the first flight that hadn't been planned at all - his fight against _tanks_ and _F-22s_, Stane removing the Arc Reactor from his chest and his fight against Stane should have taken his life, too. Let's not even go into the mess that was Ivan Vanko, palladium poisoning and the Mandarin, that was just too much. And everything Avengers related ... New York, Ultron, Sokovia, the Accords and the Civil War ... Thanos ... How _was_ he even still _alive_?_

_"Perhaps," Yinsen tilted his head as he consented. "But the universe would be all the worse for it. _Reality_ would have suffered. We might have all long since been destroyed had you not survived all of your ordeals. The universe is not keen on imploding in on itself. You were needed, Stark. Perhaps you were _always_ needed. There are, after all, only two contenders for all of the Infinity Stones. The universe made sure of it."_

_"How?" Tony asked, clenching his fists again and feeling the new, alien - quite literally, but metaphorically, too - metal shift with his left hand as though it were a second skin, always having been meant to just _be_ there. On his hand. Only on his hand. The orange world around them pulsed._

_"Balance was needed. Titans were a strong people and Thanos' drive and determination to fulfill his mad plan ensured he was strong both physically and psychologically. He was a perfect contender, but the multiverse did not approve. The _Stones_ did not approve. His plans would destroy us all, so the very essence of existence decided to put the world into balance. They needed some time before they got it right. And then you were born." Yinsen smiled at Tony, something akin to awe shinning through in his eyes. "Anthony Edward Stark, Iron Man, the universe's greatest defender." Tony wanted to correct him on that last title, for more than one thing - he was far from the best and it should be only of Earth, not the whole universe; or at least it was the last time he had checked the news and tabloids - but Yinsen beat him to it, not letting him say another word. "Don't try to deny it. I was sent here by _Them_."_

_"_Them_?"_

_"The Infinity Stones," the should be older man replied at the genius' confused echo. "I was sent here to help you understand some things."_

_"How?" Tony had always suspected some level of sentience in the Stones - the Tesseract reacted in certain ways to certain people, Jane said the Aether was defending itself and Jane both and the Mind Stone definitely held sentience, so it made sense that the other three followed that logic, too - but he never dared experiment that sentience ever again after Ultron. But apparently he needn't take a risk. They contacted him first._

_"We are currently within the Soul Stone, in a different, secluded section of its realm that no one can access." The man that had saved him in more ways than one explained patiently, indicating at the world around them. "The Soul dimension is made up of several subdimensions, including this one and the one that holds all of the people who have ended up here after the Snap, people who died, people who are yet to be born and this little pocket we're standing in. Oh, and one other, but you can go there later. The doctor can't see you now." Tony wanted to point out Yinsen was a doctor, too, but his heart took a leap when a certain pair of changing blue-green-gray eyes flashed through his mind and hope and excitement fluttered in his chest. Before he could dwell on it, Yinsen continued his explanation. "Due to your affinity to the Stones, the Soul Stone was able to pull you into its Soul Dimension and bring you here. To me. _They_ seem to be under the impression that I am important and dear to you, so they chose me to greet you and explain some things. I must admit, I am flattered, Stark. I often wondered if you considered me a friend, too."_

_A tear threatened to fall at the admission that he and Yinsen were friends in the other man's mind. But he didn't know how long he could stay here and if he was on a schedule, so he had to go back to business instead of just chatting it up with an old, long lost friend. "What sort of things? And why the Soul Stone? The Mind Stone could have probably done it a lot more easily." After all, it had so easily gotten into their heads in the past. "Is it because it doesn't have its own dimension or something?"_

_"Partially," Yinsen admitted. "But mostly? Because this is the Stone you have the most affinity to." At Tony's dubious expression, he just chuckled. "I am assuming you are thinking something along the lines of the mind and logic being more likely associated with you than the matters of the soul and heart?" Stark hesitated before nodding and Yinsen shook his head. "Tell me. Your AIs? They're all individual people with their own personalities, preferences, characters, opinions and choices, yes?"_

_"Of course." Even Dum-E, his oldest and quite frankly simplest Artificial Intelligence, was a _person_, so to say. None of them were a copy of each other, not even Vision and JARVIS, despite them both practically sharing their basic coding._

_"If they are _people_, does that not suggest they have their own _souls_?" At the shocked look Tony must have been sending him, Yinsen laughed in good, fond humor. "You are quite possibly the _only_ person in the _multiverse_ capable of creating true, artificial life. Your affinity was always closest to the _soul_, Stark. Thus the Soul Stone had the easiest approach to you. As for what sort of things," Yinsen's voice turned grim and serious and the genius drew himself out of his shock to pay attention. "I don't know everything. I just know that you were always meant to wield all six Infinity Stones. You were _born_ for primarily that purpose but then you became individually important for other things as well. The universe - and multiverse - depend on you. Your legacy, Stark, are not your weapons."_

_Tony's left hand flew up to the Arc Reactor in his chest. It wasn't the same one that Yinsen had installed in his chest - hell, it wasn't the same _socket_ \- but it was the ultimate form of the thing that had started his true journey. Not as the Merchant of Death, but as Tony Stark, Iron Man._

_"Your legacy is _Infinity_. There are trillions of lives depending on you, Stark." Yinsen told the gobsmacked engineer. "The universe has created you for the sole purpose of bringing back balance and ensuring its continued existence. The Stones _call_ for you. Have you not felt _Them_?"_

_"No," Tony automatically answered but was almost instantly frowning and shaking his head. "Yes? Maybe? I don't ... I don't know." The brunet held his head with his right hand, his left indulging in an old nervous tick of his by tapping his fingers against the Arc Reactor. "How can I not know?"_

_"It is not the most obvious of siren calls, or so I was told."_

_"What am I supposed to do?" Tony asked with a tired groan, massaging the bridge of his nose. He swears if he wasn't just a soul in here that he'd have a raging headache right about now._

_"You have the new Gauntlet. It is operational. You know what you have to do." Yinsen snorted, saying it like it was obvious and expected. It kind of was but Tony didn't really appreciate the sass._

_"And just _how_ the hell do you expect me to get the Infinity Stones into this thing? It will only work after I have at least _one _Stone in it in order for it to overpower the pull of Thanos' Gauntlet. And in case you haven't noticed," he raised his Gauntlet-covered hand to show it off. "I don't have any."_

_"That can be changed." Yinsen assured him and extended a hand, fist clenched and turned downwards. He walked closer to Tony, hand still extended, until he was within reach of the shorter man. Tony hesitated when Yinsen approached him, not mimicking his gesture because he was reluctant to cut this conversation short. Will he ever see or hear Yinsen again? Can he live with that? Knowing Yinsen was just ... floating somewhere inside the Soul Stone? "Stark, I know that this is too much to be asked of from you, even if it is the multiverse itself asking, that you are tired and that you have had enough," the good doctor said in a gentle, understanding voice, hand still patiently offered to Tony. "I know you have fought _so hard_ to do the right thing, to change your legacy, and I can't tell you how honored and humbled I am that you have done it, even if only in small part, in order to honor my memory. I am so _proud_ of you, Tony. You've changed the world all by yourself. But Earth is not the only one who needs you. You are the only one who can do this, Tony. I don't mean to pressure you or anything, but I would be grateful to you if you could do this."_

_Tony snorted at the attempt at a joke despite the truth of the words. "It's not as if I can really say no, nor will I, Yinsen. I'm not that selfish."_

_"A man who has been willing to die for a planet of people who have rarely given him anything but scorn three times is hardly a selfish man, Stark." Yinsen said, his voice scolding and Tony was reminded of a different doctor who once had steady hands and had given up his life for him and his heart _ached_. "It is now time for you to _stop_ trying to die for everyone, actually. You need to _live_ for us now."_

_Their hands were outstretched towards each other, but Yinsen did not open his fist even when Tony turned up his palm to accept whatever it was that the other man had wanted to give him. Confused, Stark met Yinsen's eyes and the two just stared at each other until Tony sighed and turned his left hand over so that the back of it was facing Yinsen's down turned fist. "I swear to _you_, as the man who made me the man _I_ am today, that I won't _die_ for the universe but that I will _live_ for it. I will live to make sure it prospers."_

_"The word of the Sorcerer Supreme is more binding than any contract, Stark." The doctor warned but the grip of his fist was already lighter, ready to open. "Even if he is a temporary one. Can you keep that promise?"_

_"I guess we'll have to find out, won't we?"_

_Yinsen smiled and his fist opened, revealing a brightly shinning orange crystal. It pulsed with power, dancing happily over the Gauntlet before it surged downwards to attach itself to the Gauntlet. Tony gasped at the energy that coursed through him at the contact, the power of the Soul Stone filling his very being, extending his awareness beyond the world as he had known it. Being in the astral dimension couldn't compare to directly being connected to all of existence at once. It was definitely a new sensation._

_When he opened his eyes - he wasn't even aware that he had closed them in the first place - his surroundings remained the same, nothing and no one in sight or sensing distance, but Yinsen was gone. Instead of brown eyes meeting brown, they met incredible blue ones that had a special shade in the orange lighting. Lips surrounded by almost identical facial hair to his quirked in a smile as Tony's eyes widened._

_"Hello, Tony," Doctor Stephen Strange greeted, as magnificent and mysterious as always and Tony's eyes pricked with a surge of tears. "It's been a while."_

_"Yeah." The genius said shakily. "Yeah it has. Seven days, I think."_

_"I think we need to talk."_

_Tony regarded the Sorcerer Supreme with mixed emotions that he couldn't be bothered to even _begin_ deciphering. They were too jumbled a mess. But he knew he felt one thing upon seeing Strange. "Yeah. Yeah we do."_

_And that was surety._

_Safety._

Hope_._

_There was still time._

_There was still hope._

_A chance._

_Tony was not going to waste it._

_"Then let's talk."_


	42. Chapter 42

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

_The two brilliant men just stared at each other for a long time, taking the other one in after that one hellish week that felt like a life time apart. No, _eternity_. Neither could quite believe they were standing in front of each other again, despite one having seen this moment happen before through the power of one Infinity Stone and the other was sensing the truth of the situation thanks to another Stone. It was as though they were worlds apart still, despite being only a couple of steps away in this pocket dimension._

_Tony noticed that this pocket of the Soul Dimension was different than the one he had talked to Yinsen in. In fact, it was why he could tell this was a _different_ pocket of spice in the first place. The place he spoke to Yinsen in was plain, for the lack of everything but the dead man's presence and the orange tranquility of the place. Here, though, there was golden magic woven through the pocket dimension, belonging to none other than Stephen himself. Tony all but breathed in the sense of the other man. He had not even realized that he was so lonely because Strange no longer existed on the same plane of existence as him and he couldn't feel him anymore until they were within sensing distance of each other. He had never realized he could miss someone so much and he had been missing his parents and Jarvis for twenty years, Yinsen for ten, JARVIS for two and his friends for the three months of his imprisonment in Afghanistan. Strange had been gone for only a little over a week and it felt unbearable._

_Stephen had become a constant in his life when he had been cornered and Pepper and Rhodey weren't enough to stand up to the pardoned rouge Avengers. Since the very first day they met, when Strange had protected him from first Mordo and then from Wanda, the sorcerer had been an unexpectedly close friend. He had given him back JARVIS and had resulted in a chance of survival for Vision should Thanos ever tear out the Mind Stone, like he had ended up doing, anyway. Stephen had been his support and his companion, a partner and a friend, for all of four months and Tony would be lying if he said that he didn't secretly want Stephen to be a bit more. He never acted on it and he was a bit pissed that Strange had shown a similar inclination only seconds before he turned to dust._

_Actually, his feelings towards the Sorcerer Supreme were extremely mixed right now. On one hand, he was supremely pissed at Stephen for _daring_ to trade _half of the universe_ \- he won't even _think_ about the other half that was endangered because of the imbalance that came to be due to the above mentioned wiped out half - but on the other, he couldn't help but be touched by both Stephen's saving him again, putting him above someone else - had anyone ever done that for him before? Besides JARVIS, of course - and putting so much faith into him that he had entrusted the very multiverse he was supposed to protect with Tony despite his record of bad decisions. And, similarly to that dilemma, he both knew Stephen had not meant for Peter to disappear in the snap and was angry at him for allowing it to happen. Because Stephen had _chosen_ this path. He had led them onto it and while it may be the only one that will eventually lead to victory, it still felt like too high a price had been requested. Let's not even get into the whole Sorcerer Supreme candidate thing. That needed more thought than Tony could afford to spare right now. And Tony was not even sure how to respond to being the one Stephen had chosen to bear the responsibility of defeating Thanos and restoring the balance to the universe all on his own. What he _did_ know for certain, though, was that he was extremely relieved to see him again. Despite the anger, despite the sorrow, despite the loss and the bitterness, Tony was just glad to have him back, even if only for this moment and only in this limited capacity._

_"Was it worth it?" Tony asked when a long moment of silence stretched on without either of them saying something. "Was it worth it half of all life? Are we on the right path? Did you get it right?"_

_Stephen looked sad as he brought his hands together, almost as though in prayer. "I don't know how much anyone has told you so far," the former neurosurgeon began. "But this was something that was meant to happen, Tony."_

_"Let's pretend I don't know anything, which really isn't that far from the truth, all things considered."_

_The sorcerer sighed tiredly but conceded. "The universe doesn't just _start_ and _stop_, Tony. There is no _beginning_ and _end_, no _birth_ or _death_. There is only a cycle, an unbreakable, unstoppable circle that repeats itself over and over again and in the center of that circle are the Infinity Stones. Ever and never changing, always the same and yet different with each repetition of the cycle. They shape the universe with each 'rebirth', make it that little bit different from the last one. That's how the multiverse is formed but we can get into that some other time. The point _is_ that this cycle keeps existence itself in balance. But the Infinity Stones always get scattered across the virgin universe upon it's ... creation and they stay together for it's ... destruction, when it eventually comes in the next repetition of the cycle. Following me so far?"_

_"I'm not an idiot, Strange," Tony couldn't stop himself from snapping, irritated with the pace of the 'story' even if he was fascinated by what the other man was saying. Stephen sadly accepted all that Tony was dishing out and continued._

_"I know you're not. It's just that this is a very complicated matter. This is the truth of our existence, Tony. There is nothing about it in all the books in the universe." Well, that was surprising enough for Tony to shut up and listen. Stephen took that as his cue to continue. "Do you wonder how the Infinity Stones come to be?"_

_"I'm guessing the two contenders have something to do with that," Tony crossed his arms, not daring to look down at the golden Gauntlet on his left hand. The Soul Stone was there, shinning merrily, not at all sorry for the weight it had put on Tony's shoulders. "I know Thanos and I are them, I just have no idea how the universe could be so fucked up to choose the two of us. There are far better candidates."_

_"But that's where you're wrong," Stephen corrected him gently, hesitantly moving a bit closer but still keeping his distance. "The Infinity Stones themselves don't really care what becomes of the universe. They are aware that the cycle will repeat itself again so to them, it matters very little as to how much longer it might take for the repetition to come or if it will happen right now. That's the thing with all things infinite: they don't really care. The universe is stuck on this loop one way or the other and there is no way to leave it, so the Stones know they're safe, that they will have a job to do soon enough in creating a new repetition. It doesn't matter to them that the next one will be messier, that so many lives will not be born, that the universe's population was half what it had been in every other repetition that came before. There will be plenty of time for the numbers to go back to normal, so why care."_

_"Are you telling me this happened before, too? Someone like Thanos coming and killing half of all life?" A horrified Tony asked, face pale, arms trembling, fists clenched. "And the Stones lets it happen each time?"_

_"I think I didn't explain quite right," Stephen sighed again. "It's like this," he opened his hands and out came a handful of those butterflies he had used in his fight with Thanos. Tony hadn't had the time to admire them the last time but he did so, now. They were really beautiful. "I created these butterflies from my own magic and they are mine, but I can't control what they do once they get their own awareness of the world. I could, but that would require me to submit their will to my own, something that the Soul Stone and Mind Stone would be able to do should they wish to in any way influence what we all do to prevent or cause something." Tony shuddered at the thought of mind control but didn't interrupt Stephen's explanation. "At one point, they will have to die and maybe they'll be too far from me to help them, or there will be too many and I can't act on my own. I'll definitely outlive them, but, like with them, I can create more from the same magic I had used before."_

_He made the butterflies vanish in a rain of golden sparks, leaving no traces that they had ever existed behind and Tony was sad to see them go. Then Strange put his hands back together before he opened them again and new butterflies emerged. They were just slightly bigger than the last ones and their color was just a shade bluer than the first turquoise ones._

_"They will never be the same, even made from the same power they had been made the first time around. Imagine if I cared for every single one of them and if each and every one of their death's affected me on a personal level so deep that their end feels like losing a part of myself. I'd lose my mind and tear myself apart just so I would stop feeling that pain. And if I do that, who will create the next batch of butterflies? It would mean the end of a cycle and if these butterflies were to be the representation of all of creation, the world would be a very empty place after maybe one or two repetitions at most." All but one of the butterflies disappeared, the one remaining making a perch on Stephen's outstretched, offered finger. "So, you see, the Stones aren't allowed to care for what happens to each individual universe repetition unless they want to stop creation in its tracks. They gave us free will and exist on their own until someone learns of them and tries collecting them. The Infinity Stones' only purpose is to create everything that is in the universe when they scatter through it upon the beginning of each new repetition. They reunite when it is time for the end of that particular repetition so they can scatter again in the next one. That's it. Everything else that happens or that they are used for is because they don't have bodies of their own or the right kind of consciousness for our silly minds to comprehend and so we, as in ordinary, mortal people, no matter the species, use them for our own ends. They have no part in it."_

_"Wait," Tony finally interrupted, slightly confused. "If what you're saying is correct then what's the whole purpose of the contenders or whatever? If the Stones only exist to create the things in every new universe that should be there from the beginning and then not interfere at all until the end comes, why would there be any contenders? Because people are constantly trying to use them? Because of others like Thanos?"_

_"The Stones have no body of their own, Tony. They have a container for their power - the crystals they are made of in the physical realm of existence - but they have no means to act on their own. So they search for conductors of their will, of their power, their energy. Mostly only temporary ones, people who are physically and mentally strong enough to handle them, but they are rare and easily disposable. They aren't enough to keep all six Stones together, one of the six would eventually get greedy and try to take the other five's Stones. And people have certain affinities in regards to the powers of the Infinity Stones. For example, I have an affinity for the Time Stone while Loki has for the Space Stone. We're not exactly the best example because we're powerful sorcerers and can tame the power of the other Stones enough not to hurt ourselves, but it would be taxing to use a Stone that is not according to our affinity. Anyone else would probably end up dead instantly. And that's where to contenders come in."_

_"How so?"_

_"The contenders have an affinity for each of the six Infinity Stones at the same time. They have an equal amount of understanding for each of the features of existence and are strong enough to withstand the onslaught of power that would come from the eventual combination of all six."_

_"Then why make two?" Tony had a suspicion - balance in the universe and all that - but he'd like to have his suspicion either confirmed or denied. If Strange was finally so chatty about the future, then Tony won't be the one to discourage him._

_"There's always the possibility one will turn out to be the rotten egg and that the Stones will need another to right the wrongs of the other one." Stephen shrugged, letting the last butterfly flutter out of existence. Stark watched it go before turning back to his companion._

_"Like now?"_

_"Like now."_

_"I thought you said that the Stones couldn't care for the end of every repetition." He wasn't even sure if it was a question or not. "That it won't really matter whether the original number of lives that they enter the next repetition with is smaller than all the other times."_

_"Did you simply not care when the Iron Legion was destroyed during the Ultron debacle, even though they hadn't been AIs like JARVIS? Did you feel no remorse Ultron had turned out the way he had, even though it wasn't your doing?" Tony winced at that but he could see Stephen's point. He had been ready to do anything to make up for his mistake with Ultron. Perhaps the Infinity Stones 'felt' the same towards how their first contender had turned out and wanted to fix their mistake._

_"But why me? I'm not exactly the best candidate for anything, let alone something this important."_

_"Balance." And Tony can't help but snort at it this time. "No, seriously. Thanos is a destroyer. He sees a solution in destruction. You're a creator. You search for solutions by creating new ones. Besides, you have that energy in you."_

_"Yeah, what's up with that, anyway?" It's been bothering Tony for a while now. Mordo had been right about one thing, in all the other things he had been so spectacularly wrong. No one but Tony has ever been registered to have been born with power within them. If Stephen was revealing all, he might as well tell Tony why he was so different. The energy Tony possessed was something between the Arc Reactor's unique signature, the signature of the power of the Infinity Stones and the signature of the dimensional energy sorcerers drew upon. Maybe Stephen can tell him now?_

_Apparently__ not, because he just shook his head with an apologetic furrow of his brows. "I'm sorry, Tony. But there are still so many things that I can't tell you."_

_"Does this fall into the never category or in the at a later date one?"_

_"Actually, you're going to find out on your own," Stephen surprised him with his answer. The Sorcerer Supreme just shrugged. "You'll see eventually. All _I _can tell you is that it was partially to prepare you for the surge of power from the Stones, to prevent you from losing yourself."_

_"Is that why you insisted - or rather, Wong did - on training me?"_

_The blue robed man nodded. "Sorcerers do pretty much everything that the contenders can do with the Infinity Stones, only on a much smaller scale. While the contenders instinctively understand all aspects of existence, sorcerers study them. We train to manipulate them. We have to, if we wish to protect our reality. What better advantage to give you, who is a couple of centuries younger than the Mad Titan and don't have nearly as much experience or knowledge about the Stones due to how isolated Earth is compared to most of the cosmos, than the basic knowledge on how to control the powers you are meant to harness? Training you would make your job so much easier and would give you an edge over Thanos, who can only scratch the surface of the Stones' powers." Tony nodded. He could understand that. It made perfectly good sense. It also just so happened to align with Stephen's need to make sure Mordo didn't kill him before he could go up against Thanos for the sake of the universe. "And speaking of Wong, how is he? How is ... Everyone?" Thankfully, Stephen didn't yet ask the _How are you_ question. It didn't mean he won't ask it soon enough but Tony was thankful for the stall._

_"The sorcerers at large are the best off, even if they're scrambling for protectors of the Sanctums and Kamar-Taj. They apparently know enough of your plan that they had been ready and waiting to crown me the _temporary _Sorcerer Supreme," he made sure he stressed the word temporary enough to convey to Stephen that the man better be back or else Tony was going to go after his magical ass._

_The man didn't even look apologetic, the asshole. "You were the best option. While there were other sorcerers that have more experience, you were the most powerful one left on Earth and had a mindset and personality most similar to my own. Earth and the multiverse would have been perfectly safe."_

_"You're coming back." It was stuck somewhere between a demand, an order, a statement and a plea._

_Stephen just smiled at him, though. "Of course I am. You're bringing me back."_

_As always, he was struck by the confidence Strange had placed in him. It had been there from day one and Tony had never stopped being surprised by Stephen's trust. He wasn't going to betray it, though. He won't fail him. He won't let him down. "Of course I am. Good. Glad we have that established." He looked away she he wouldn't see the gentle smile Stephen was sending his way. "The others are as well as you can imagine. Pumped up, though, now that we are making a plan. Ready to do some Avenging. Always ready for a fight." He huffed and looked at the taller man from the corner of his eye. "I'm still angry with you, though."_

_The doctor didn't even need an explanation. "I'm sorry to have put you through all of this. I won't try to defend myself by saying it was necessary or the only way. I refuse to insult you like that. I can only hope that you can find it in yourself to forgive me one day. Because I really am sorry, Tony." Those blue-green-gray eyes were boring into him with nothing but honesty. It was hard to stay mad at someone who was so sincerely sorry. "You didn't deserve to go through that."_

_Tony gave an exaggerated sigh and turned back around to fully face Stephen again. "I _guess _I can forgive you." They shared a grin that soon fell off of Stephen's face and Tony's followed, worry fulling his being instantly. "What? What is it?"_

_"You won't have much time to prepare for Thanos when you return to the real world. It might not have been more than a few seconds out there as opposed to here, but as soon as Thanos realizes what had happened, he will set out to search for the missing Soul Stone. The energy from your Starkenium core won't fool him for long. I give you ten minutes at most to get into battle stations."_

_Tony glared, angry not at Strange but at Thor for so callously putting the Gauntlet on his hand without wondering at the consequences. He'll seriously have to have some words with the original Avengers about responsibility and accountability. "Is there any way you might be in the position to tell me what strategy will work for the best?"_

_"Yes."_

_That drew Tony up short and he squinted at the doctor. "And that is?"_

_"Don't get killed." Stark rolled his eyes at that and huffed. "No, seriously. Don't. If you die, there goes the rest of the universe."_

_"You said it won't just end but it feels like it's going to implode in on itself any day now." He had apparently managed to surprise Stephen with how well he sensed the energy of the universe because those blue eyes widened in shock. Only for a short while, though, before Stephen furrowed his brow and thinned his lips. "What? This can't be another thing you can't tell me about! This is serious, Strange!"_

_"You will find out soon enough," was all the sorcerer said, shaking his head. "You should go now. You have much to do, still."_

_That set a panic in Tony not unlike a fire and, strangely enough, the Soul Stone responded, the pocket dimension around them shivering and shuddering in response. Both men looked around, watching in curiosity and waiting for it to settle again before facing each other again. Tony tried not to show the panic that he was feeling, but Stephen must have picked up on it anyway because his eyes softened in that way that they do only for him and he marched forwards. Before the shorter man could register it, he was being hugged, a shaking hand drifting through his hair soothingly and Tony immediately wrapped his arms around Strange, too. The last time they had been even remotely like this, Stephen had turned to dust and drifted through his fingers. Tony knew they couldn't stay like this but a part of him instinctively clung to the younger man, as if he could drag him back into the real world with him by force of will and the tightness of his hug alone._

_"I know it's going to be hard," Stephen murmured in his ear, voice gentle and steady. "But I also know you are strong enough to take it and to undo this mess. You're Tony fucking Stark. The universe should bow down to you for all the shit it's put you through." That, at least, got a snort from Tony, who didn't feel at all up to laughing. "You just be you, Tony. Just do what you always do and don't give up. That's never failed you before and it won't now, either."_

_"I'm scared," Tony admitted. He was. He was terrified. What if he couldn't do it right? What if he somehow messed up? Sure, Tony has no plans of giving up, that would be as though he had simply rolled over and died for Thanos' pleasure. Why do stubborn, ingenious doctors have to put such a high price on his life by sacrificing themselves for him? He wasn't worth it._

_Strange shushed him and Tony wondered if it was only to his admission or for his thoughts, as well. He wasn't sure how much power Strange had in here but he wouldn't put it past him to somehow be able to read Tony's mind in here. "It's all going to be alright. I left a gift for you. I'm sure you'll like it. It will help you."_

_"I don't know what to do," Tony insisted, bunching up Stephen's robes in his fists. It was so strange that the Cloak was nowhere in sight. Tony had gotten used to its constant presence in the past week and it was downright weird to see it away from Stephen. He missed it right now. It would have been an even better hug had it been present._

_"Then I will impart one more gift to you." And just like that, Stephen gently gripped his chin with his shaking fingers and tilted the genius head up, his face leaning down and Tony could feel his warm breath on his his face. He closed his eyes and waited-_

Tony awoke in the real world, surrounded by his dumbfounded fellow Avengers and a glowing Soul Stone on his left hand.


	43. Chapter 43

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

Tony awoke in the real world, surrounded by his dumbfounded fellow Avengers and a glowing Soul Stone on his left hand. They were all staring at him in disbelief, as though this was the weirdest thing that had happened to them all so far, when it was,in fact, not. It barely made it into the top ten, which was really saying something since they still hadn't seen Stephen doing his magic or how a movie reference saved a life. Or Tony making a new element in his lab for shits and giggles. No, seriously, they've seen so much shit over the years that this really shouldn't even be all that surprising. Weird, maybe, but not such a big surprise.

"Oh my god, Tony! Are you okay?!" Pepper all but lunged at him, stopping her just seconds away from colliding with him, where Thor and Vision were propping him up. Her eyes were worried as hell and now Tony was feeling guilty as hell for causing her to worry about him again. It was one of the reasons they decided not to get back together in the end, staying just friends. He always only worried her and caused her undue stress, as though being CEO of his company wasn't enough, or his friend. Pepper was one of the strongest people that he knew but even she had a breaking point. Tony hadn't wanted them to reach it for fear of losing her form his life for good, which was why they had simply stayed friends. No, not just friends. Family. She was a sister he never had, just like Rhodey and Happy were his brothers. She still worried, but she didn't nearly have a heart attack every time he put on the suit.

"Yeah, peachy." Which was true but probably didn't look it, since Tony could feel Extremis burning in his eyes, always a sign of distress or healing if he wasn't using it consciously. Or lack of control, as it had been the case the first few hours until JARVIS and FRIDAY helped him to learn to control it well enough for his eyes to at least stop glowing. "But there's been a change in plans. KAREN will help you pilot Rescue. I need FRIDAY and JARVIS backing me up. We're on the clock here, people, get ready. We have ten minutes at most."

"Wait, what do you mean, ten minutes? What was that?" Scott asked, gesturing at Tony as he arched his neck to see him. He only now realized that Nebula was acting like a bodyguard and that the Cloak had spread out so it was shielding him from sight of the rest of the room. The only part of Tony still in view was the hand Thor still held, now adorned not only with the golden new Infinity Gauntlet but with the contently glowing orange Soul Stone, too.

"What did you do? How'd you get that Stone?" Rogers, who really has no right to talk right now - or ever again, really - all but demands, making as if to come closer but Nebula glares death at him - or Tony is under that impression, at least - and he stops in his tracks. His eyes, however, stayed glued to the glowing Stone, a look in them that had the Soul Stone itself giving off repulsed vibes to Tony through some apparent connection he now had with the thing, sending him Rogers' desires of how to use the Stone. Or maybe even _all_ of the Stones. Tony gets it. He, too, would like to rewrite his mistakes but that would not be beneficial in the long run, or for everyone involved.

"Well, when Point Break here decided to just slap this thing on me," he rightened himself so he could stand on his own feet, moving away from his two supports to give the blond one a _look_. Thor didn't look the least bit ashamed. "The Soul Stone reacted for some reason and it reached out to me. I met two people in the Soul Dimension and I was gifted the Soul Stone from the first. The second one was Stephen and he told me we now have ten minutes tops to prepare before Thanos arrives to get the Stone back, so this is what we're gonna do."

"Who said _you're_ calling the shots?"

Tony just arched an eyebrow at Romanoff. "As the current, if temporary, Sorcerer Supreme and co-leader of the Avengers, Iron Man and friend and ally of the Asgardians, mutants and Inhumans, I can assure you that I have the _biggest_ support group to be declared leader of this little expedition waiting to happen. And that's not even mentioning the doors of being Tony Stark that open for me."

"Stark is the only one who can fight Thanos and win." Wong declared, crossing his arms and arching an eyebrow at him. "He was the only one to do any damage."

"He made him bleed," Nebula agreed, having been there first hand to see Thanos, for the first part, exit a fight with an injury. An injury done upon him by a mere human. Gods, rage monsters and supersoldiers had failed where a basically baseline human succeeded. "He was the only one Thanos aimed to kill."

"Thor buried his ax in the guy's chest." Shuri pointed out but the blue alien woman cyborg only snorted.

"He got a drop on him. It happens every now and then. Try fighting Thanos with four Infinity Stones head on in only a suit of - rather impressive, I will admit, but still insufficient - armor. The sorcerer couldn't win and he had some impressive tricks up his sleeve."

"That doesn't even matter right now," Tony interrupted, feeling the time ticking. "We need to get into battle positions. Thanos is going to arrive in six minutes, thanks to your need to babble." That shut them up. Only Rhodey dared speak up.

"You got a plan?"

"Of course," Tony promptly replied even as he reached for the box from Eitri. Clever of Stephen, to get him this material. He didn't want to think about where the dwarfs got the body of one of those escaped alien prisoners that the Avengers had been fighting when they met the Guardians of the Galaxy for the first time and how they molded and forged it. This box had at one point in time been a living being but was now just scrap material. Very unique and precious scrap material that Vibranium couldn't do anything against but scrap material all the same. He put a hand on the box and let swarms of nanites cover the box, swiftly taking it apart. He'll still need more time than he currently has before the nanites are done.

"Care to share?" And there goes Rogers again, challenging him when he had no right. Most of the room shoots him dirty looks while the remaining chose just ignore him.

"As I said, I'll need FRIDAY with me, so KAREN's going with Pepper in the Rescue armor. VERONICA has the defensive satellites as well as the Hulkbuster armor - we could _really_ do with the Big Guy himself, Brucie-bear, if you're up to it. Please try to be - and JOCASTA gets the Iron Legion. SARAH and SHERLY just need to focus on War Machine and Iron Lad-"

"That's now what I'm gonna be called," Harley protests but Tony steamrolls him because there was little time for snark right now.

"I want the sorcerers and Asgardians hidden in the mirror dimension until I am ready to enter the fight, which means the lot of you have to distract him. We have no idea if he'll be bringing an army or if he'll come by himself. We need to surprise him. He may be coming to us at his own terms but that does not mean that he will set the pace of this battle. Remember, this is our last chance. I suggest you all stick close enough to the nearest sorcerer because I _may_ need to call for the Mirror Dimension if things go bad. That's only if I approve of the Last Dying Breath protocol. If that ever happens, you scram. Got it? Believe me," he looks up, trying to impress on them the graveness of the situation. "You do _not_ want to get in the way of a Jericho missal. No, don't ask any stupid questions, just get into position. Buy me some time."

"That's it? That's your plan?"

"The only way we can reverse this, Rogers, is if we can get all of the Infinity Stones in this," he puts up his free, left hand, adorned by the Gauntlet. "To do that, I need to be able to get close to him, which means I'll need plenty of distractions as well as a stronger material for my armor, which is why I am letting my nanobots have a bit out of the box. That's going to need some time and as such I need you guys to distract him. He'll come straight for me."

"And how are we supposed to hold him off, Tony?" Clint asked, already preparing his arrows and picking out a spot for him and Cooper so they can be their snipers. "He's still got five Infinity Stones too many. He'll wipe us out in seconds!"

"Just keep him from closing his fist. As long as he can't clench, he can't activate the Gauntlet's control over the Stones." Tony advised, wincing as he realized they were on their last free two minutes. "Get in position, guys, 'cause it will start soon enough." Nebula stayed with him while the others rushed out, listening occasionally to his orders but mostly scrambling to get into position. Rogers had tried staying, too, but Thor actually pushed him out as he was yelling for his people to group around the sorcerers. In a matter of thirty seconds, the people in the Gobi desert were halved, half of them staying in the mirror dimension while the other half was left waiting for Thanos. Tony turned back most of his attention to what his nanobots were doing. _'How are we going, guys?'_

_-23.6% done, Boss. The material is surprisingly amendable considering how difficult it was to damage or alter during the battle. It is highly compatible with our systems. The integrity of the Bleeding Edge armor will increase by an astounding 70%. Not even Vibranium will be able to make a scratch. Possibility of Adamantium caused damage has decreased by 12%.-_

_-It's presence in our systems has also increased the environmental data processing speed by 0.54%, Sir. It has also, however, proven to be a problem in regards to the repulsors and stabilizers, so we are distributing those nanites separately from the rest of the nanites of the armor. The specialization of those components can be adjusted but we will need more time and processing power.-_

_'Then use it. Dump on me everything you don't need to do but I could handle doing on my own and process those things immediately.' _This material may come in handy but he couldn't afford his weapons and propulsion systems having glitches. _'Don't even _try_ arguing. Make it right so you can take back your duties. Be as swift about it as you can be. The others won't be able to keep Thanos away all that long.'_

_-On it Boss.-_

_-Consider it done.-_

00000

Thanos arrived through a wormhole exactly thirteen seconds before the tenth minute was up, barely reacting in time to partially protect himself when the Avengers, Inhumans, mutants, SHIELD and SI agents and Wakandans all attacked together, surprising him only enough for the wormhole to close behind him and for Shuri to launch a device similar to the one Tony used on Titan to stop Thanos from closing his fist. But, ready or not, surprised or expectant of the attack, Thanos managed to keep his composure enough to reveal the machinery to the incoming attacks so that it took enough punishment for him to rip it off, made of Vibranium nanobots as it might have been.

Before he could try to use the Gauntlet, though, Magneto used his magnetizing powers to create a magnetic field between the fingertips of the glove and the palm, so that they were repelling each other. The field was so strong that Erik had no choice but to sit out the fight itself lest he loose control. It gave the others a chance to be his backup, firing at Thanos with all that they had, getting in close, raining hit after hit on the Mad Titan. Not that they could do much against him even with him unable to use the Gauntlet. Thanos had come fully armored, probably expecting a battle of epic proportions, so he was a lot better equipped and protected than they could have hoped for.

Steve and Vision were the first to reach him, the supersoldier raining punch after punch after shield-reinforced punch to Thanos' middle and upper chest and torso, before he was punched away by a powerful hit. Vision, who had tried to get to the Gauntlet, though, was grabbed by his cape a flung around, turning invincible just when Thanos' fist would have connected with his head. Tony had had the foresight to build in some weapons into his now defenseless child and he had solved it by installing a laser in Vision's forehead in place of the Mind Stone, one powered by the Arc Reactor that was quite literally Vision's beating heart now. Vision used said laser now to blast Thanos directly in the face. The Titan let out an enraged, pained yell but let go of the red android, who flew away from the purple giant just in time for Rhodey, Pepper and Harley to rain down hell on him, using the suits Tony had made for them.

Thanos was obviously bewildered by the three iron suits so similar to Stark's flying around when the Mind Stone and Power Stone told him this was not Stark in any of the suits. He didn't get much chance to ponder on that as Dante flew in and spewed fire all over him before flying off, making space for another volley of attacks from the long range fighters.

They must have given it away somehow as to who exactly it was that was stopping him from closing his fist because Thanos suddenly lunged into an attack directly towards Magneto. Carol managed to blast him back several times before he knocked her out of the sky, reaching Erik and knocking him out cold with a single punch. Combined with the strain of keeping the Gauntlet forced open and his age, the hit was maybe even too forceful. As soon as Erik went down, Thanos didn't waste a second to clench his fist, using the Power Stone to knock back every SHIELD and SI agent that was not behind swiftly called upon Vibranium energy shields. He then used the Reality Stone to turn the ground beneath their feet into quick sand, but soon enough found an invisible force prying his hand open again.

Susan Storm was not a woman to be messed with and Thanos idiotic plan had cost her her whole family. She was more than pissed off and had no intentions of letting Thanos come for what little of her new extended body he was after. Tony was the only chance any of them had of ever seeing their loved ones ever again and if he said he needed time, Susan was going to buy it for him. She'll start by not letting Thanos fight back. He seemed even partially impressed with her will to keep him from closing his fist, but he recovered fast enough and made to lunge for her, but then a flash of red and gold caught his attention before it barreled into him. Bruce gave a crow inside of the Hulkbuster armor as VERONICA helped him properly pilot the terrifying suit of armor. Thanos tried fighting back but VERONICA knew how to fight, unlike Bruce or even the Hulk. She had access to every fighting style and strategy known to man and was not a mind the likes of which the Mind Stone could manipulate or read. Then, to Thanos further surprise, the big armor flew back suddenly, only for Bruce to be ejected, skin and eyes blessedly turning green when the Hulk finally realized that everyone but him was in on the fun.

The green rage monster was joined in its rampage against Thanos by a big metal X-Man guy that often accompanied Deadpool, while said anti-hero made a grab for Thanos' Gauntlet, only for the man to crush his skull in his bare hand before flinging him at Susan, who managed to catch the already amazingly recovering man, only to have the metal man flung at them both next, making her hold on the Gauntlet slip. Thanos shattered it and used the Mind Stone to force Hulk to stop in his tracks and turning slowly to face his own allies, only to have an arrow shock him right out of it, courtesy of Clint. That was when father and son Barton duo started shooting as many arrows as they could at the evil giant purple grape, distracting him long enough for Medusa and Ms Marvel to wrap their hair and hands respectively around his wrist and pull his fingers apart to the best of their ability. Unfortunately, they weren't strong enough to hold him properly and soon lost their grip.

Thanos, though, seemed to have had it with their attacks and playing around with them, because he used the Time Stone to slow them down, before using the Power Stone to send a deadly wave of energy at them, only for the Iron Legion and all of the Iron Man armors to swoop in, including War Machine, Rescue and Harley's armor, every single weapon trained on the Mad Titan, immune to the effects of the Time Stone only because of the Starkenium core of the Arc Reactors they all had inside the suits. Vision even managed to phase through the ground right under the man and punch him hard enough in the face for his hand to fall open, releasing their friends from the Time Stone's power. The wave of energy from the Power Stone was luckily enough blocked by the Wakandans and Susan, shielding everyone from the deadly attack. Thanos was left with fighting the Stark-created army as they attacked from all sides, even more confused than when it had been only Pepper, Rhodey and Harley. Stark was quite honestly the only thing Thanos had to worry about. That he couldn't find him was more than unsettling. He could _feel_ he was here somewhere, but he wasn't on the field and the people he was fighting now were a distraction he couldn't afford. He had to get the Soul Stone back. He wasn't even sure how the Stone ended up on Earth in the first place! One minute it was with all the other Stones and the next, Thanos had found himself knocked out cold, waking up minutes later with a raging headache and an Infinity Stone missing. It took him a moment to get his bearings back together enough to use the Power Stone to search for the missing Soul Stone. He had been astonished to find it on Earth, almost shielded by another energy signature that he had recognized as Stark's.

He had set off immediately, opening a wormhole with the Space Stone, only to step into a desert ambush while Stark was nowhere in sight. There was a lot more people fighting him despite half of all life in the universe, Earth included, having been wiped out when he had snapped his fingers. They were coordinated far better than when Thanos had fought them in that jungle, better united and more determined. The Mind Stone whispered to him that it was both desperation and hope, that they had _faith_. They had something, some_one_ to believe in and Thanos knew that it was Stark. Stark had returned and had gathered all to hold battle here and yet he was absent. Had Thanos truly injured him enough to leave him bedridden? That would have been optimal. Stark had been the only one to make him bleed and he was a mere _human_ in a suit and a few impressive tricks. That blond Asgardian had needed a specially Nivadellir forged weapon just to _touch_ Thanos - the only reason he had been injured by that axe was because he hadn't seen it coming and was taken by surprise, not through any skill or strategy on the blond's part - while Stark had come at him by himself.

But now there was no Stark, no sorcerer and no blond axe wielding Asgardian in sight and that set alarm bells in the purple giant's head even as he was tackled by the Hulk and that big metal guy with a thick accent. It took him the use of the Power Stone to throw them and Captain America off of him, only to find himself confronted with Kreean proton blasts from Captain Marvel, as well as streams of fire from Inferno and several other mutants and Inhumans. Magneto even went as far as to drag out every piece of metal from the ground, including the silicon of the sand and every rock in the desert, and hurled it at the big alien. Rocket hitched a ride on one of the rocks and got as close as he could to Thanos while firing at him, throwing explosives and knock out gases but Thanos used the Stones to counter them all before they could affect him or cause too much damage. He even used the Reality Stone to turn all of Magneto's metal into plastic and then, similarly to how Ebony Maw made spikes out of concrete, turned the projectiles back at them. Some of them, he transformed into bugs and some into explosives. He doused Dante in water just to stop him from using his powers, even if for a little while.

The fight went on for a total of twenty minutes before Thanos finally managed to get the upper hand by using the Reality and Power Stones to catch everyone in various traps, manipulating the world around them in a way inconceivable beyond the Mirror Dimension. The heroes all struggled but not even the Hulk could break free as Thanos stepped around them until he was smack in the middle, able to see each and every one of them as they squirmed and trashed. Some were ripped to ribbons, others were stuck knees deep in the ground. A few were boxed in by boulders and some were turned intangible. Vision in particular was made denser and heavier than Earth's gravity field and was struggling to get off of his knees. Dante was even turned to ice in order to stop him from using his fire powers and Medusa was wrapped up in her own hair. Kamala was no longer able to control her stretching ability and her limbs were all over the place, limp and too heavy to move, while Scott and Hope, who had snook up to Thanos and nearly taken off the Gauntlet more than a few times, were being punished by being held down by insects that Thanos had summoned from the stones, the ants not strong, big or numbered enough to help them.

"Enough games," Thanos said as he watched the humans struggle. The Wakandans were trying to activate their Vibranium weaponry, but the Power Stone had all but fried everything. "You lot have been nothing but a thorn in my side. But because I lack one Stone, I can't simply mercifully snap my fingers and erase you from existence. And I don't want to simply kill you." He raised his hand and made a fist, the green light of the Time Stone resting on the knuckle to his thumb illuminating his eyes ominously. "You can thank Stark for what I am about to do. Don't worry, you won't feel a thing. You will just ... die of old age." He had the gall to smile at them. "But every life must end. Today is just your day to die."

"That's where you're wrong." A distorted voice said beneath Thanos as a blue sparking portal opened just inches away from Thanos' feet and out shot Iron Man, grabbing onto the Gauntlet with his right hand and prying upon the Mad Titan's fist while he was still off guard from the unexpected appearance of his enemy. The glow from all the Stones faded and the Avengers found themselves free. The Stones started pulsing with power at the proximity of their preferred contender, especially when Stark turned the back of his left hand towards Thanos' Gauntlet. But the purple alien got his bearings back together and flung the red and gold armored hero away with all of his strength. Not wasting a second, he clenched his fist again and hurtled a wave of immense power from all the Stones he had, intent on finally killing Stark and finding the Soul Stone that had t be with him. The watching giant group of people yelled and shouted and screamed in alarm at the approaching ball of power that was headed straight for Iron Man, all of them thinking that this was it, the moment Tony Stark faced something and didn't come back.

Only for there to be a brief flash of green and the attack to sail right through him and then disappear as though it had never been there to begin with. Shocked, they all stared at Tony, including Thanos, standing in the new version of the Bleeding Edge armor, in the middle of the path of destruction, untouched even as the ground around him was still sizzling and smoking from where the energy of the Infinity Stones had evaporated a roughly twenty feet wide path around Stark. There was not even a scratch on him. He was standing tall and proud, as confident as he ever could be, his left hand raised to be level with his chest, with his Arc Reactor.

The Time Stone shone happily on his Infinity Gauntlet beside the smugly glinting Soul Stone, both of the Stones mocking Thanos from their new, preferred perch.

The Iron Man faceplate had never been more intimidating as it was now in the light of two Infinity Stones.

"My turn."


	44. Chapter 44

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

"My turn." That was all that Tony said before he lunged int action, his repulsors firing up to maximum speed and he appeared in front of the Mad Titan in the blink of an eye, punching him square in the jaw, sending him reeling. He didn't waste a minute and was immediately upon him, transforming his fist into a large hammering device and charging it with as much energy as he can to punch Thanos' chest, stealing all the air from his giant lungs. The genius than had JARVIS activate the unibeam and fired at only 30% power, which was more than enough to send his opponent flying several meters back, well beyond the circle of his still partially vulnerable friends. FRIDAY was already doing medical scans even as Tony focused on the feel of the Time Stone's presence right next to the Soul Stone, somewhere in the back of his mind.

The connection to the Infinity Stones he had was a bit similar to the connection he shared with his AIs, the only real difference being that the consciousness in the Stones was far less refined. If we were to compare it in terms of specific and general, the Stones would be general. Their consciousness was all reaching, stretching through millions of repeated cycles that they were all too eager to share with him but that Tony's human mind probably couldn't even begin to handle without being driven mad, not specifying on anything, not even truly conscious in the manner of speaking that his AIs were. They were sentient, yes, and very much so, but they preferred to be dormant and only send him vague feelings every now and then. But they _were_ eager to start _some_ form of communication with him, which had at first surprised him with the Soul Stone while he had been taking on the brunt of JARVIS' and FRIDAY's work while they focused on immersing the new alien material into his armor. If Tony had to compare the feelings he got from the Soul Stone, he would call it a pouting child that was asking for attention. The Time Stone, though, was a lot different. It felt old, its presence left Tony with the sensation that he was in front of a wise old man as opposed to the childish, feminine presence of the Soul Stone. The emerald Infinity Stone carried its presence with dignity and precision and a kind wisdom that had to have come from knowing all of time. They were both content to sit back in Tony's mind and enjoy their proximity to their preferred contender.

Their presence was doing wonders for Tony's mind, the energy he could feel bubbling up just beneath the surface and even the armor itself. For the first time since he injected himself with the Extremis, the amount of information that constantly bombarded him didn't feel so suffocating even when JARVIS and FRIDAY couldn't focus on filtering it. It was as though his mind had expanded to allow a lot more data than Extremis could provide and Tony tried not to think about the implications behind that. The energy that he had apparently been born with was coming a lot quicker to the surface than Tony had expected. He had never so easily and so quickly opened a portal as he had when he had sensed the Time Stone being activated and the Soul Stone warned him that his friends' and comrades' souls were about to be released from their bodies due to aging. He'll probably still need lots of practice before he can be anything like Stephen in regards to skills in the Mystic Arts, but for the first time since he had started learning magic, it truly felt natural.

And as for the armor ...

Oh, if the Mark L used to be a spaceship, he wasn't even sure what it was now because it was the _bomb_. It had seamlessly wrapped around his left hand, leaving the back of his palm bear for the Gauntlet to be out in the open for easer use of the Infinity Stones even without Tony or his two AIs directing it. The armor easily absorbed any excess power from the Gauntlet that would have made a strain on Tony and directed it towards the Arc Reactor in his chest, which then redirected it through the rest of the armor, making it work faster, better, far more efficiently than ever before. What was even better, it was now extremely sensitive to any form of magic or energy disturbances so Tony could react the moment something was shifting, was ready for whatever might happen next. Not to mention that it was in tune with Tony's own energy, which at times seeped into the Arc Reactor to help the suit's performance.

And to top it all off, Stephen's gift through Eitri had given the suit several features Tony would have never expected raw material to bring. The performance of the suit was indeed bettered by several percentages and FRIDAY and JARVIS had managed to utilize every aspect of the alien material, even the repulsors had the same nanites as the rest of the suit, as opposed to their fears in the beginning since it had been incompatible with the materials needed in the repulsors' systems. It had stalled his joining the fight but the others had kept Thanos busy enough long enough for Tony to come in and rescue them when they no longer could.

He wished he could have taken more than just the Time Stone, but he was lucky enough to have managed this much with his first attack. Arguments could be made as to why any of the other Stones would have been better to be taken from Thanos first - the Space and Reality Stones in particular, given that their manipulation of the battlefield could be deadlier than anything the Power Stone with brute force alone could dish out - but the Time Stone was by far the most dangerous. Even without taking into consideration the fact that Thanos could undo whatever damage they inflict or whatever Stone they take from him, its power alone could tear apart the universe if used carelessly. As the, temporary as he might be, Sorcerer Supreme, he had a responsibility to the multiverse and letting Thanos rip it apart in an attempt to stop them was failing that duty that Stephen had entrusted him with, that all the Sorcerers of Kamar-Taj had entrusted him with.

When he had gotten a hold of the Time Stone, it had welcomed him to its power gracefully, almost enthused to give him a helping hand. That, combined with Stephen's last minute gift in the Soul Dimension, allowed Tony to easily use its power. Taking himself two seconds into the future, just long enough to let the blast from Thanos' Infinity Gauntlet and it's four Stones, was an experience he will never forget. He had expected it to be a lot harder, but the Stones led him through it with elegance and enthusiasm, helping him where Stephen's gift reached its limit. Making it disappear into a time vortex was also surprisingly easy, all things considered, and actually quite fun. Tony could see why Strange loved the thing. He probably only didn't mess with it because he knew just how dangerous it was.

Thanos shook off the affects of the attack and focused back on Tony, only for Wong to surprise him by opening a portal for Thor to fly out, Stormbreaker sizzling and crackling with lightning as he collided with the Mad Titan, leading the sorcerers and Asgardians out of the Mirror Dimension. Their numbers were overwhelming when combined with the others already there and not even Thanos could laugh at their little army. He may have once had the greatest army in the universe but Tony had destroyed one half of it when he had flung the nuke at the mothership back in 2012 and a good portion of the Outriders had been slaughtered back in Wakanda if they weren't wiped out by the Snap itself. Thanos had crippled the remains of his own army and had left himself open, arrogantly coming to Earth thinking that they wouldn't be prepared for him. But they were and they were both desperate and eager to bring him down and bring back their friends. Thor in particular, battle born and bred and eager, was very enthusiastic as he laid in on the purple giant and, to Thanos' misfortune, Hulk and the other Asgardians were more than battle hungry, just like the Asgardian king, and they were craving revenge. Tony guessed that they really _were_ avengers.

Or more like Revengers, as Thor had called them.

The sorcerers fell in line with Tony as easily as all his suits, the Iron Legion and War Machine, Rescue and Iron Lad. The suits all fired all of their weaponry while the sorcerers attacked with various spells, all very powerful and very flashy. Thor and Storm added lightning for effect and Dante added his own two cents by raining hellfire on the motherfucker. The Wakandans soon joined in, along with Rocket and his various explosions. Magneto went as far as to start a sandstorm to blind Thanos, if only for a moment, as Tony, Wong and several other sorcerers created several portals all around him to confuse the giant purple grape. When he was sure that the Mad Titan was distracted enough, Tony slid into one of the portals and came out through the one that was exactly above Thanos' left hand, only for the Titan to move it away while he blocked a missal from Rhodey. He huffed and went back into the portal system and timed it carefully so he landed directly on Thanos' arm.

The alien gave a startled yell as Iron Man landed on his arm, Tony quickly placing a clutch over his palm so he couldn't close his fist while he put the back of his hand close to the bigger Gauntlet. He felt a jolt as the Mind Stone and Space Stone both lurched forwards at his close proximity, which was to be expected. The Mind Stone was the Stone he was closest to due to Vision living with him and often following him around after Civil War happened. The Time Stone was the second one in the amount of time he'd spent around, what with his close relationship - he wasn't even sure what _kind_ it was as of yet, it was that complicated - with Strange, then the Space Stone, what with the Chitauri invasion back in New York, being blasted away by the Tesseract and then, recently, being rather strangely friendly with Loki after he returned to Earth with Thor. The Reality Stone was also somewhat familiar with him but he had never been in the proximity of the Power Stone until he had fought Thanos on Titan. It made sense that the Space and Mind Stones were struggling to see who was going to be the first to join the club.

Mind won out just as Thanos caught him around the throat and flung him off, not even bothering to try strategizing anything. Tony had gotten close for a second time and now they each had three Infinity Stones each. He watched as Thanos used his free hand to force his left hand to squeeze around the clutch Tony had attached to him and, with the help of the Power Stone, managed to crush it. FRIDAY immediately called back the nanites even as Thanos then used the Space Stone to close all the portals that the sorcerers had been holding open. He lashed out at them with the Power Stone but Kamar-Taj taught its people well and their seemingly numerous Shields of Seraphim held up fabulously. The Asgardians had their back, led by Nebula and Thor as they jumped the moment of vulnerability from the other side as Thanos was turned with their back to them.

Tony looked towards the Cloak of Levitation and nodded to it, opening a blue sparkling portal for it and it zoomed in without hesitation. _'Guys, the Cloak needs a distraction. Let's give it.'_

"This is so awesome!" Harley shouted over the coms, enjoying as he fired missal after missal and repulsor blast after repulsor blast at Thanos, the Mad Titan blocking most of the attacks with the Power Stone but he couldn't disengage the suits like he could Wakandan technology. The perks of Starkenium Arc Reactor powered Stark technology.

"This is not a game, son." Steve dared chastise and Tony rolled his eyes. Cap was currently trying to withstand an attack from the Power Stone along with some of the other Wakandans who had physical and not energy Vibranium shields and they were barely holding up. "You need to take this seriously. People _die_ in wars."

"No shit, Sherlock." Rhodey snapped and was probably ready to make some pissed off comment when he had to evade a close collision with a Power-Stone-powered flying bolder. He cursed as he kept avoiding attack after attack, only for VERONICA to back him up, sending in the Hulkbuster armor to take the brunt of the attack and then tackling Thanos to the ground.

Tony cursed as he got a ping from her. "Guys, Mirror Dimension. Now!" Immediately, the sorcerers all opened sweeping portals all around and no one hesitated to get in. Well, Thor did, for a second, tempted to attack Thanos in the confusion that followed, but didn't and instead stepped through with Rocket. Tony was the only one who didn't follow, creating a shield around himself as a giant laser beam came from the sky. Thanos' cry of pain as the laser hit him was as deafening in the Mirror Dimension as it was in the real world. Tony took his chance and darted in, but Thanos opened a sudden wormhole that Tony barely managed to avoid. He cursed under his breath, calling the others back as Thanos started firing at him with purple beams of energy, cursing even more when Thanos started a sandstorm and sent it his way.

In retaliation, Thor and Storm threw a thunderstorm at Thanos while Scott grew in size and stomped on him like the cockroach that he was. Hope buzzed down just as Scott shark and landed on an ant to fly away, flying straight into Thanos face and taking great delight in punching him in the eye before he swatted her away. That was when he opened a new wormhole right above their heads in an eerily familiar scene as several giant spaceships very similar to the flying donut appeared in view, smaller units rushing towards the blue portal that no one but Thanos could close.

Well, no one but Tony.

"_You_!" Thanos spat as a green energy surrounded the portal and reversed it, closing the portal the same way it was opened in the first place, the Time Stone glowing as it reversed time. Thanos studied Stark for a long moment before he let out a dark chuckle, creeping out more than one person in the desert. Cold chills ran through them despite how hot it was. "Oh, I see. I guess I should have seen it. I guess you had one more trick up your sleeve, sorcerer."

"What are you talking about?" Tony asked, utterly confused even as Time, Mind and Soul Stones pulsed with energy, expecting an attack should Thanos try to turn this into a trick.

"It's so obvious. The sorcerer had this planned since the beginning. He was so sure that he would fight me again. I guess I can see why, now." At Tony's continued confusion, Thanos sneered. "He had always planned on using you as a vessel, even from beyond the grave, to fight and sacrifice to undo my work. How does it feel, Stark, to be betrayed yet again by someone you trusted so completely? To be used just so you can be discarded later?"

Tony was sure he, the New Avengers, the mutants, the Inhumans, Thor, Susan and Danny and all the Sorcerers of Kamar-Taj and even Nebula herself were all gawking at Thanos as though he was the stupidest thing that tried to pass off as an intelligent organism. Because _seriously_?! "I think Strange at this point would rather let the universe die than betray me so your point is mute. Also, dipshit, this is Tony Stark talking, one hundred percent!"

"You expect me to believe that a man of science can turn to magic just like that? _You_? And to achieve that level of skill in so short a time?" Thanos made a face that was between pitying, amused and a sneer still. "Please, Stark. Or rather, I should say Strange, I guess. You're fooling no one."

"What the hell is he talking about?" You know shit was real when Randy cursed.

"Only the sorcerer, who was the Stonekeeper of the Time Stone, would know how to use it in such a refined fashion." Thanos said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. He was pretty sure every sorcerer by now was looking at both Thanos and the Avengers as though they were dumber than dirt. Not that Tony could blame them. The sorcerers were extremely competent and Thanos was starting to look like an idiot with every point he tried to make about Strange being Stark.

"_This _is the guy you couldn't defeat?" Tony overheard Wong ask of Rogers and the others who had fought in Wakanda and he had to admit he was feeling a little ashamed himself. He couldn't have stopped him, either.

"You even have the cape!"

"Okay, one," Tony said, holding up the middle finger of his right hand as he counted down. It just annoyed Thanos. Well, too bad, that one was for Quill. Or perhaps it's rather 'even better'. He'd chose the second one. "I've been studying the Mystic Arts for close to a third of a year and I am an extremely fast study so fuck you. Two," he held up his second middle finger and heard Cooper and Clint choking on their laughter up in their sniper posts. "I have the fucking Soul Stone." Said Infinity Stone shone smugly to prove a point. "I can go into the fucking Soul Dimension and I met Strange there. Sorcerer Supreme to Sorcerer Supreme. He kind of transfered some of his knowledge into my head so I can beat the shit out of you. And three." He held up his hands and opened a portal right overhead of Thanos. Something red and sentient zipped out and wrapped around the Gauntlet, preventing it from closing as Tony opened a portal in front of himself and jumped through it, delivering a mighty kick at Thanos' head, reinforced by a repulsor at maximum thrust power. "It's a fucking Cloak!"

Not wasting a second of Thanos' disorientation, Tony lunged for his left hand and placed his own over it, managing to stun Thanos with a repulsor to the face long enough to wrench free the Space Stone. He and the Cloak than had to retreat lest Thanos try to rip the both of them apart. As they flew away, Thor and the Hulk jumped in, delivering punches even as Tony looked down at the new acquisition to his collection of Infinity Stones. Four down, two more to go. At least now Thanos can't try to recreate that black hole he had flung at Stephen back on Titan, since he no longer had the Space Stone for it.

Stephen's last minute gift was what had a good part in their success so far. The knowledge he had passed on to Tony was mostly related to the Time Stone and how to use it, but he had given Tony a few lessons he'll need that they never managed to cover in training. Had it not been for that knowledge, there would have been a big Iron Man smoldering splatter on the desert sand by now, or a second - third? - alien invasion by now. But the understanding of the universe like Tony hadn't yet learned is what actually helped the most, since it allowed him easier access to his magic and the dimensional energy. And getting the Space Stone now will prevent Thanos from figuring out how to cut off the sorcerers' powers from them should he ever find out jut where their magic comes from.

The only problematic Stone now is actually the Reality Stone. For all that it was called Power, the purple Infinity Stone was actually the least powerful. It's abilities are quite straightforward and only reach their full potential when combined with another Stone. Power Stone and Space Stone? Black hole. Power Stone and Reality Stone? The ability to shatter the Mirror Dimension. Power Stone, Reality Stone and Space Stone? Throwing a moon on the armored hero. He was still pissed off for that, by the way.

And, as if reading his mind - not that he can, not even if he was a telepath now that Tony had the Mind Stone to protect his mind - Thanos used the Power Stone to pick up enough matter to transform it into the same moon he had thrown at Tony back on Titan and Tony couldn't help but pull back his helmet just to glare at him before he took off, calling for the sorcerers to get everyone back into the Mirror Dimension.

_'Engage the Last Dying Breath protocol, level 3.'_ He ordered his AIs while flying around in the hurtling boulders as if it were an asteroid field. The fully opened connection to Extremis - he could more than handle it now that the Mind Stone was gladly making the room necessary for all that information and data processing and was strengthening his mind and brain with glee - as well as the upgrades he had made to the suit on both Titan after waking up and just now made him able to avoid every single one. When JARVIS informed him FRIDAY had the Jericho missals seconds away from the desert, Tony opened a portal and entered the Mirror Dimension with everyone else, calmly walking up to Thanos even as his crown jewel of weaponry rained hell down on the Titan and the boulders he had tried to use to take everyone down.

The impact was felt even in the Mirror Dimension and the flash that followed the explosion blinded everyone.

Tony opened a portal end stepped through, body shinning with his own power, reaching out ...


	45. Chapter 45

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

The destruction that the Jericho missals left in their wake reduced the boulders back into sand, black tinged from the fire damage and some even melted enough to form glass. There was a new crater in the middle of the Gobi Desert, mostly covered in glass or ash but no debris from the twenty Jericho missals that had exploded here. That was only level 3, moderate threat. Tony was still ready to release 'hell on earth' level 7, consisting of eighty missals and if the Avengers were to fail here, JARVIS and FRIDAY had the clearance to activate 'the dragon' level 10. Tony didn't want to think about that level of destruction ever being needed but Thanos had to be stopped. Someone else could pick up the Gauntlet and bring back the balance to the universe and the Infinity Stones can't be destroyed. The sorcerers would have found a way, he believed in them that much.

Thanos was sprawled out in the middle of the crater, only the Power Stone left in his Gauntlet as it glowed, having absorbed most of the attack, but a single Jericho missal was capable of leveling a mountain. Tony had made sure they came in succession, one after the other so that the Power Stone was too busy with absorbing the first two's power when the third came, then the fourth and so on. Enough of the destructive power had affected the landscape and Thanos that the man was covered in scratches and burns and his focus had been only on maintaining the Power Stone's energy absorbing feature for him to notice Tony opening a portal right next to him and stealing the Reality Stone from right under his nose.

The red stone glinted contently from beside it's other 'siblings', so to say, forming a flower around the triangle core that was the Starkenium from Tony's earlier Arc Reactor models. That core and the one in the suit were perfectly synchronized and were distributing the power of the five Infinity Stones as if they were made for that very purpose. Tony felt next to no strain when he called on the Reality Stone's power to check whether it was integrated properly. All the Stones always answered happily and caressed themselves in his mind and buried themselves in his own energy, purring like content cats, whispering things Tony mostly still couldn't make out. They reminded him of Dum-E, U and Butterfingers in how they seemed to act like cats that only wanted attention and petting but were content to sleep the day away.

Was it weird that he thought that way about the most powerful artifacts in the universe? It's not like he was going to share his opinion with the world or anything.

That wasn't the point or the situation to be considering, especially not as Thanos was rising, having recovered enough to apparently continue the fight. He either didn't know or didn't care that he can't take back the Infinity Stone from the Gauntlet Eitri had made for Stephen - or rather, for Tony. The new Gauntlet was meant to hold the Infinity Stones together until the end of this cycle is to come, something Stark learned only about an hour ago from a dusted Sorcerer Supreme. This Gauntlet was practically for forever and the Stones won't be leaving it any more than it will be leaving Tony's hand. But that apparently wasn't enough to stop Thanos, as he looked ready to continue their battle.

Although it was obvious that the giant purple wrinkly grape wasn't used to being hurt. If that cut Tony had given him had shaken him up enough for him to go in for the kill against Tony back on Titan, his state now had him nearly shaking where he stood. Because this was the most he had been hurt at one point in time since he had witnessed the destruction of his own planet, decades and decades ago. The Mind Stone whispered to Tony how afraid the big alien was although it warned him that Thanos was far from done. The Stones, had they had bodies, would have been shaking their heads at his pointless stubbornness. They were far from impressed. They were more than content where they were and didn't need Thanos or his genocidal ideas.

Now if only they would leave their chosen contender to do his job and collect their last 'sibling' ...

But Thanos had no such thoughts even close to entering his head, instead taking the advantage of Tony never using the Infinity Stones unless it is absolutely necessary by gathering as much energy into the Power Stone as he could and firing a purple ray of power at the genius. Tony cursed and focused on the Reality and Space Stones so that he could prevent any of the others from going back from the Mirror Dimension in a misguided attempt to help. He activated his shield and hid behind it, much like the exchange of this sort had happened on Titan while forming shields around himself with magic. When he was sure both the suit and the shields would hold, he gave that one spell one last short.

Three runed circles appeared in front of him, one inside the other before they separated and formed a row, like in a telescope. It had unfortunately never worked to its fullest capacity so far but Tony was nothing if not stubborn. Stephen and Wong had taught him this spell precisely to stand up to the strength of the Power Stone since nothing else in the universe can match its power while having a similar enough energy signature to neutralize it. Tony had not wanted to think that he would ever need to face Thanos because of the defensive satellite network they had set up, but both men had been burned too many times not to consider all possibilities. Realistically, they had known that they would need a way to strengthen the power of the Arc Reactor based attacks - repulsor and the unibeam - since the Arc Reactor is the only thing that can stand up to the Infinity Stones as it has am almost identical energy signature as them and has a lot of power, is self-sustaining and magic-resistant.

He powered up his repulsors, the unibeam and had JARVIS and FRIDAY deploy every other proton cannon and Arc Reactor energy powered weapon they had in their arsenal, including lasers. The energy readings were off the charts, helped by the new material added to his nanites and the power of the five Infinity Stones in his Gauntlet. In order to fire all of these weapons, though, Tony had stolen a trick or two from Stephen and formed two more pairs of arms,only it was purely armor, controlled by his AIs. He wasn't anywhere _near_ Stephen's level of mastery over magic but he had his own tricks. Thanos stopped his current assault to gather even more power - and catch his breath; his Gauntlet was a misshaped thing that looked more like a failed forging project than an almighty Infinity Gauntlet meant to control the power of all six Stones and the Power Stone was now leeching energy from him directly in order to be used - and upon seeing Stark ready to go to war all by himself, he clenched his jaw. "_Come on_!" He called, taunted, challenged, just like back on Titan when Tony returned from having a moon thrown at him at challenged him one on one. That had been their first real fight and Thanos had won, leaving the deserted planet with five Infinity Stones, heading for Earth to take the Mind Stone from Vision. Tony had a lot to pay him back: the Snap, Vision's temporary offlining and, of course, throwing another moon at him.

He didn't hesitate for a second to fire.

Thanos didn't, either.

The Arc Reactor blue and Power Stone purple energy attacks met somewhere in the middle of the battlefield, clashing against each other with such force that Tony swore all of Asia shook from the impact. The shock wave of two so similar powers was felt throughout the multiverse, no matter which dimension or galaxy you were in. The two powers pushed against each other and the first ring of the amplifying spell activated. Thanos put more force behind his attack but it was becoming clear that, infused by Tony's own magical energy, the Arc Reactor based attack was taking head. The second circle lit up when Thanos tried moving forwards, concentrating all of his power of will on taking down Iron Man, the increase in power stopping him. Tony thought it was so good so far, considering that the third degree had never activated so far. But the spell felt steadier than ever before and Tony wondered if Stephen's brief mental lesson in the Soul Dimension had anything to do with that. The power flow from him into the spell was as constant and steady as the Arc Reactor ever was and it was, apparently, all that was needed for the third hollow mandala to light up, creating an energy blast unlike any seen before. Thanos actually staggered back from the shock of such a power blast, momentarily almost losing his grip on the Power Stone's power and loosening his fist before he pushed back twice as hard.

But it was too late. Tony was a strategist and an opportunist. Had always been and will always be, especially now, when so much depended on him. _'Crank it up to 100%, kids. We're bringing this motherfucker down.'_ Not a second later, the repulsors and unibeam were, for the very first time since Tony had created the Iron Man suit, firing at full power. That alone would have disintegrated a great many things - even Adamantium and Vibranium. Tony knew, he had tested it - but when it was amplified by the spell,Tony's own energy and even the Infinity Stones, it was enough to break through the sheer brute force of the Power Stone, obliterating Thanos' already beat up Infinity Gauntlet and freeing the Power Stone from his grasp. Tony shut down the beam as soon as Thanos fell down, gasping from the effort and the after effects. His grip on the Space and Reality Stones slipped and dozens of sparkling orange portals opened around him even as the Power Stone sailed towards the doubled over genius. His friends were crying out his name even as the purple Stone joined its siblings and completed the flower shape that the other Stones had already started.

The Gauntlet lit up, shinning gold and all the colors of the rainbow even as the Cloak of Levitation wrapped around his shoulders and Nebula grasped his face - when had his helmet retreated? Probably JARVIS' or FRIDAY's doing since he was disoriented as fuck. He had never done anything on this scale before, magic- or Extremis-wise - nearly blinding them all until Tony put in the effort to rein the Infinity Stones in. He swore that the feeling they sent back was something akin to pouting hut they stopped trying to blind them and settled back into their barely dormant state. Stark swore they were still pulsing with the need to be used, to _connect_, but with what and how and for what purpose remains yet to be seen.

"Stark, are you alright?" Nebula's voice finally broke through the fog that that little stunt had created and blazing blue eyes met her calm - if worried - completely black ones. Vision stood on his other side, Susan and Danny just a few steps back, watching as Wong held back Thor from killing Thanos, who was being tied up and restrained by the other sorcerers. Rhodey, Pepper and Harley were keeping watch over everything even as Banner fought back the Hulk so that he could check on Tony himself. Not that he needed it. He was simply drained, he hadn't been all that injured, as JARVIS' and FRIDAY's frantic scans of his body indicated. Extremis was a godsend. He wouldn't have survived either that attack or the drain it caused had he not been injected with the serum.

_'I'll be fine, Neb. I just need a nap.'_ He sent over through Extremis because thinking had always been easier than talking for him. Especially now. He needed a breather because he still had things he needed to do. _'Could you please tell them to shut the fuck up?'_ He was referring to the other Avengers yelling his name and whether he was okay. It was getting annoying, thank you very much.

_~Your AIs can do that.~_ Nebula shot back and Tony mustered a grin for her.

_'But you do it so much better!'_ He teased,although it also could be quite true. Nebula was intimidating as hell and if she tells you to shut the fuck up, you do it or you get a sword in the chest - or a swat on the back of your head, if you were her new BFF Tony Stark. The blue cyborg woman just rolled her eyes and did as asked and Tony enjoyed the results. Besides, J and FRI were busy with other things.

_-All seems to be functioning well, Boss. The Jericho missals remain perfectly hidden and New Shield has failed in tracking their origins. The military have been appeased by SARAH,-_ the only of his AIs that they were comfortable with since she was considered Rhodey's 'assistant', even though she was _definitely_ loyal to Tony first. No matter how much he tries to get his AIs to consider their charges their priority, KAREN, SARAH, JOCASTA and now SHERLY still seek his approval first. In the case of KAREN and SHERLY, it's probably for the best, considering how Peter and Harley could be, but Happy and Rhodey were grown adults. It was funny how ironic it can be, since _they_ consider _Tony_ needs babysitting. -_And aren't asking any additional questions or demanding you create more.-_

_-The circuitry in the armor has cooled off almost instantly and the plating is returning to normal temperatures as we speak. All of the armor's functioning parameters and protocols remain untouched. The addition of the Power Stone has not overwhelmed either Starkenium core,-_ Not that they had ever thought it might happen. That thing could absorb almost anything and the Gauntlet was made to handle that amount of power already. _-It appears to have integrated, Sir, as have all the other Stones. Further use of the Gauntlet appears to be relatively safe with only 0.4% chance of failure, 0.0035% of which could have a fatal outcome.-_

_'Awesome,'_ Tony thought as he got up, standing straighter with the steadying presence of the Cloak. That was the best news he heard all week. Maybe even all year. Maybe since New York! Because now Thanos will be defeated and Tony can finally rest, knowing his friends and planet - and plane of existence - are safe. He focused back on Nebula in the middle of a hissing competition - or was it a threat-throwing one? - with Natasha while Deadpool seemed to be annoying the god out of Rogers. Rocket was being held back from shooting Thanos by Susan, who looked like she would want nothing more than to join him. The sorcerers were guarding the defeated Mad Titan with a handful of Asgardians while Magneto was entertaining himself by crushing the Gauntlet the alien had used out of existence with his power. The others were all relatively calm and mellow although Tony could see - and sense and _wow_, that was new, sensing each mind and soul and he was going to be driven mad if he doesn't figure out how to shut that off - them glancing over to him with varying emotions. He understood, of course. Some were as impatient as him to get everyone back and others - mostly his old, toxic team - were weary of that much power being put in the hands of one man. Or, more specifically, _his_ hands. He guessed they will never trust him again.

He huffed. As if they ever had in the first place.

"Are you okay, Tony?" Pepper finally asked from where she had been watching him, hesitant to approach him. He couldn't really blame her. They had all seen just what these Stones can do and no one knew for sure whether he can control them or not. He wished he could reassure her but the fact was he himself didn't quite know how well he will handle all six Infinity Stones. He was a damaged human being that had been put through too much.

The Stones pulsed in protest and reproach and Tony could just imagine the frown on Strange's face. He pushed it aside to smile at Pepper, leaning on Nebula a little as he surveyed the damage done to the Gobi Desert. Thank god he had insisted they bring the fight here. Anywhere else and it would have ended in endless casualties and unimaginable property damage. "Yeah, I'm fine. Or I will be as soon as I reverse the Snap."

"I was wrong about you, Stark," Thanos interrupted before Pepper could protest that he needed to rest first, drawing everyone's attention to the now awake and aware Titan. "You are nothing like me. You don't _understand_. You don't understand what needs to be done in order to save the universe. It is a pity."

"Oh, but I do. And I am most definitely _not_." Tony replied, stepping away from the now seething and growling Nebula, eyes trained on his only curse. "The universe doesn't need destruction to survive, Thanos. It needs a future."

"It won't _have_ a future. The population is so high that the universe will collapse in on itself."

"Destroying half of all living things isn't the answer." The genius insisted, coming a few steps closer and stopping there. He was far enough away from everyone so that no one will be able to interrupt him. "It _never_ was." He takes a deep breath, still not used to his lungs being like they once were - Extremis had healed all of the damage after Afghanistan and Siberia and everything in between and the only constriction to them now was the almost imperceptible presence of the Arc Reactor embedded in his fake, Vibranium sternum, but it was 90% less intrusive than the Arc Reactor used to be - before focusing back on his enemy. "You speak of balance but you know nothing about it. If you did, you'd know that your actions have threatened it more than anything anyone else had ever done. Well, probably not more than that Kaecillius fellow, but, then again, he wanted to release an ancient demonic being that would have devoured the multiverse just so it can hang planets as Christmas decorations in the Dark Dimension, but you're still a close second-"

"Is that what they told you to vilify me?" Thanos chuckled bitterly but Tony only arched an eyebrow at him. "My methods are not gentle, Stark, but they are necessary. Are you seriously going to listen to these charlatans," he indicated to the sorcerers, who arched an eyebrow or glared at him, some tightening their hold on him to remind him just how _real_ their magic was. "That have never seen beyond the skies of their own planet, about the state of the universe as opposed to someone who has traveled the stars and seen worlds you cannot imagine? Who knows better?"

"I'm gonna say the guys who've been trained and taught to protect everything that we are." Tony replied without hesitation, bringing his left hand up, presenting his ready to snap fingers to Thanos and everyone else present. "And I'm gonna say the Infinity Stones themselves. And I'm going to say the multiverse, too, because, unlike you, I know how to _feel_ it. And, you know what?" He activated Extremis and called upon the magical energy he was born with to prepared himself for any form of a backlash that he _knows_ will come, even with the Gauntlet's Starkenium core meant to absorb most of it. This was not going to be painless and he winced at the thought of what his left arm will feel like after this is done. "I think you're full of shit. Sayonara, asshat."

And with that, Tony focused on the power of the six Infinity Stones, reaching out to them with his own power and snapping his fingers, ignoring the yells and shouts around him, letting the power flow through his being and the Stones come into his mind. _'Bring them back,'_ was all he said, ordering, begging, asking, all at once desperate and determined. This had to work. He couldn't live with it if he failed now. So much depended on him. He can't fail now. He _can't_. _'Bring them back. Bring them _all_ back. Please!'_

The rush of power cut him off from the rest of the world, as though it had never existed in the first place and Tony found himself lost, floating in nothingness.

_'Please.'_


	46. Chapter 46

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

When he opened his eyes next, Tony found himself facing ... nothingness. Like the black vastness of space but with no stars, galaxies or planets in sight. There was only ... empty space in front of him, as though nothing existed in the cosmos. There was nothing. It was all empty, void of life, of matter, of _energy_ and Tony was the only one there. He was all alone, not even JARVIS or FRIDAY there to keep him company. The only thing that existed here - wherever _here_ actually was - was Tony himself and he was the only thing giving light to this plane of existence - was it existence at all if nothing besides himself existed here? - because he was apparently _glowing_.

Or rather, the Arc Reactor was still in his chest and it's familiar blue light was making it possible for Tony to see at all. Had it not been for the one thing that had set him on the right path, that had been keeping him alive for _years_, that reminded him that he had so much more to do and give to the world, he would have been surrounded by infinity darkness and Tony hated darkness ever since Afghanistan. JARVIS had had to keep holograms on in his bedroom - when he bothered to go to his room for sleep at all, that is - for years. New York had reinforced that fear of darkness and cold and Siberia had driven it home that he will never be comfortable with darkness around him ever again. Extremis was a blessing where that was concerned because it was never dark behind his eyelids. Not to mention that FRIDAY and JARVIS could interrupt any nightmares that tried to take hold. But he had neither of them here to remind him that he wasn't left alone in front of a burning Chitauri army in far space with the fallout of a nuclear explosion about to kill him. He didn't have the Cloak of Levitation or Peter making a ruckus close by to assure him that he wasn't isolated from everything and everyone he knows in a place where he has next to no power.

He didn't have Stephen to show him that he _could_ have power even here.

He was alone. He was all alone and it was _terrifying._

Until it wasn't because he _wasn't_ alone anymore. He felt six presences around him, surrounding him and suddenly the blackness around him was no longer so infinite. A feeling of snide amusement surged through him, but it was not his own. The world took on a purplish tinge as a booming voice made itself known, snorting.

_-How easily these little creatures define everything without a foreseeable end 'infinite'.-_

_/Do not be so hasty to judge./_ The world turned green, the voice sounding far more patient and much, much wiser. It reminded Tony of a certain doctor wizard he knew, but the intonation of the voice was all wrong, almost like Stephen's voice patterns were turned upside down. It was raspy and not as deep as Stephen's, but his way of speaking reminded Tony the most of his Awesome Facial Hair Bro. To be expected. Tony was pretty sure these were the Infinity Stones he was somehow communicating with so clearly like this and he guessed they had chosen their own voices and the Time Stone - if the green sheen of the world was anything to go by - had chosen to imitate its Keeper to an extent. _/Human lives are rather short and swift but some of them see far beyond what long lived races never understand./_

_::I agree. Although that, sometimes, is not a good thing.::_ Tony flinched at the familiar, synthetic voice of none other than Ultron as the world turned yellow. He had half expected it to turn red or maybe even that electric blue that had indicated mind control back in 2012, even if he knew Scarlet Witch's powers and the Tesseract are nothing like the pure power of the Mind Stone.

_\That, though, is not entirely their fault.\_ The world _did_ turn red this time, as a voice that sounded like a thundering, loud version of Jane Foster's voice that had been put through a Thor filter. _\They are such curious creatures, wanting to understand and explain everything in their own layman terms.\_

_::I rather doubt that it is layman to them.::_ The world turned back to yellow as the Mind Stone replied.

_)They _can_ be a bit annoying, at times.(_ The new voice sounded like a female version of Loki's voice as the world became the color of the Tesseract and the Space Stone it had once housed. Tony did his best not to let his face show his reaction to the - so far still - dead Asgardian's voice.

_/I find my own rather interesting./_ Tony swore he was going to get epilepsy simply from how much they were changing the color scheme of what had once been a very dark world as it changed back to green.

_::Yes, I guess observing the world through another's eyes is _somewhat_ entertaining.::_ There goes yellow again. Seriously, he would prefer being color blind right then.

_-At least your handlers were not hellbent on abusing your power to eradicate all that you helped make at the new 'big bang', that's what they call it now, yes?-_ The Power Stone actually _complained_ as purple took over again. Tony was reminded of the way Peter and Harley or, especially, Kamala complained when Dante was teasing them. He will be honest and say he had never expected the Infinity Stones to act as unruly teenagers, but if that was their drift, then he wasn't complaining. After all, he at least had some experience in dealing with kids and next to no experience in dealing with eternal entities the likes of the Infinity Stones.

_)Yes, but his handler is either an idiot or a genius for handing him over in exchange for a human life.(_ The Space Stone snarked and Stark wondered if he had misheard or if the Stone had just referred to the Time Stone as a _he_. Did the Stones have that much self-awareness for them to consciously give themselves a gender? Why weren't there more texts on the Stones that had the power to both make and unmake the universe!?

_~We are self-aware and sentient enough to realize you will feel far more comfortable with genders instead of genderless, abstract beings without voices or separate personalities, so we adjusted.~_ A new voice filled the space around him as it lit up, for the first time since the Stones had started speaking, that same comforting orange of the Soul Dimension. The same shade Tony had given JARVIS digital representation since day one. And the voice that spoke for the Soul Stone was one that had Tony on an emotional roller coaster, since it wasn't truly only _one_ voice. It was an intertwining mix of JARVIS and FRIDAY, Jarvis and Aunt Peggy, Maria and Howard and Yinsen and Pepper, sounding feminine despite it containing the echo of all these voices speaking in sync, like a chorus. It was the strangest but most comforting sound Tony had ever experienced in his life and he wasn't sure if he was relieved or saddened that Strange's voice wasn't in the mix somewhere. This was his family and the people who have changed his life. Stephen deserved to be in there, too. _~And Stephen was indeed a genius for saving our Chosen. You know that, sister.~_

_)Oh please.(_ Came the Space Stone's voice again. _)He could have protected our Chosen instead of dooming the universe and every future repetition of it. There had to have been a way.(_

_/I was under the impression that _I_ was the only one with such foresight./_ Came Time's voice again and this time it was _definitely_ filled with all of Stephen's sarcasm. Tony snorted because he couldn't help himself. This was ridiculous. These were entities older than existence itself, trapped in crystallized matter to act as conducts of their power that could create and destroy the universe with the same ease as merely, simply _being_ with infinity - quite literally - power and they were acting like childish versions of his _friends_, bickering like ... Tony froze at the thought, eyes widening. _'Like me and my friends.'_

_\We find your kind very entertaining.\_ The Reality Stone said with a giggling sort of impression in her? voice, reading his mind. \_It is quite fun, watching how you interact.\_

_/I thankfully have first row view of the best fun./_ Tony wanted to roll his eyes at Time's amused voice as the world bled green again. _/The way my Stonekeeper reacts to the world is hilarious although his infatuation with you is not all that pleasant to watch. It is pathetic, if I am to be honest./_

_::My own position to watch has also given me a perfect view of a pathetic romance and it was not your _own_ crush with the Sorcerer Supreme.::_ Tony flushed under Mind's sarcastic remark and hoped that the Infinity Stones couldn't ... feel it?

_~Oh, we can.~_

"Fuck." The world around him vibrated and filled with all six colors of the Stones and Tony was sure he flushed harder. Judging by how his own aura of electric blue spread, he may as well have. His mind was filled with amusement that was not his own and Stark groaned. Great. He was now sharing his mind with a bunch of childish, moody teenagers.

_/I take offense to that./_ The green took over as Time spoke with a huff but Soul only chuckled. She? agreed with the genius and was not afraid to show it.

_-Who are _you_, who is not even five decades old, to call us ... _teenagers_ of your own species?-_ Purple took over next as Power sent the sensation of scowling at him. Tony could not quite place his voice. It sounded like a mix of Fury and Quill, maybe with a filter of Hulk and Nebula's accent? Or he _could_ be wrong. For all he knows, besides the Soul Stone, the other Stones might as well all have their own voices or had took over voices from someone else and not Tony's friends and family - yes, even Ultron was family. He was just the black sheep. _-Oh, no. We _did_ take the voices of your friends and family that we liked or found suited our own personalities. Although I find the green beast appalling.-_

_/Then why choose to add it into the mix?/_ Time challenged and Tony imagined he was arching an eyebrow just like Stephen would.

_-Because he is, unfortunately, one of the physically strongest individuals in the universe.-_ Came the equally challenging retort. _-Unlike _your_ little flesh-bag.-_

_/My little 'flesh-bag' is one of the most powerful magic wielders in the _multiverse_ and actually has a brain to be proud of. I approve of my Keeper. You are just _jealous_, brother./_

_~I can see why you attribute them to children.~_ The Soul Stone sounded sympathetic and Tony found the entire situation _hilarious_ and he wondered if that was because he was also partially hysteric by what he was going through. After all, he had been through a quite literal hell in the past decade of his life, most of all in the past year. Although what made the past year so unbearable was actually the fight against Thanos itself, although dealing with the rogues wasn't exactly something he had enjoyed.

_\Perhaps we should focus on the matter at hand.\_ The world turned red again, overwhelming the other colors as she pointed to the elephant in the room - or rather Tony in this strange void when he should have been back on Earth. Or dead. Reversing the snap should have drained him of his own energy or killed him if the core in the Gauntlet was even _one_ percent off. To be here could mean a whole lot of things. He _could_ be dead, for all he knows, and the Stones had given him these last few moments to accept that. Or he could be getting his bill due, as Mordo likes to say and insist it always eventually happens, for all that he has done so far. And not just his own magic but also for using the Infinity Stones now. Everything had its price, even saving the universe.

_::You are not dead, not to worry, our Chosen.::_ The Mind Stone drawled in a bored sort of voice, obviously not really interested in the worries of mortal men about their life/death in the same manner Ultron himself had not cared about the human race's, well, humanity. _::It would be a great travesty for you to have expired from such an easy feat.::_

"Easy!?" The incredulous genius exclaimed, trying to find a source to glare at or direct his disbelieving gaze onto, but, as had been noted before, the space around him was still as empty as it had been when he had first opened his eyes. It didn't matter that there was now color, it was all still a void of nothingness. "That wasn't easy! Restarting the universe is not _easy_! Not for us who are not blessed to be an Infinity Stone!"

_\You didn't seem to be having difficulties in doing it.\_ Tony didn't know how to react to that because he _hadn't_ had any problem in actually achieving what needed to be done. There was some strain but it hadn't been painful or unbearable. Injecting himself with Extremis had been more painful, if he was honest with himself. The burn of the serum as it rewrote his body to heal it from all the punishment it got dealt over the years was far worse than the sensation of the Infinity Stones leeching his energy in order to correctly fulfill the task he set before them. That had indeed been ... _easy_. Simple. His energy intertwined with the energy of the Stones without a hitch or so much as a second of hesitation, aided by the Arc Reactor's own unique energy signature that absorbed any strain that might have come his way. And since the Arc Reactor was acutely connected to Extremis, which was connected to Tony's own brain, Tony had created a perfect loop for himself to take the strain of the Snap reversing without being damaged in return.

_/I don't think that he had wanted that pointed out to him, sister./_

_::Human minds are so easy to break.::_

_-Can we _please_ return to the important business?-_ The purple took over again, silencing the other Stones before it returned its - and their's - attention back to the only human here. The only _mortal_ being here. _-Your journey does not end here, our Chosen. There is still much for you to do.-_

"Um, okay?" Tony said a bit uncertainly, eyes flicking from side to side in the habit of looking around for an explanation on someone's face but there was no face to give anything away. That was both disconcerting and annoying. "Mind elaborating that?"

_)Thanos is far from the most dangerous threat in the universe, let alone the multiverse, to deal with.(_ The Space Stone finally spoke up after its long bout of silence. Its blue wasn't exactly the color of Extremis and it certainly didn't leave Tony feeling safe but he was getting used to its color as much as the Mind Stone's voice. Slowly. _Very _slowly.

_~We don't want this repetition to be over just yet.~_ The Soul Stone explained after feeling Tony's confusion. Sure, Strange had said that the Stones would like to keep each repetition as similar to the last one while having dozens of differences, but he had never exactly expressed that the Stones might like some repetitions more than others.

_\There are still so many things that can be done.\_

_/There is plenty of potential here that would be wasted if this repetition were to end too suddenly, before its time is up./_

_::We have many plans that have yet to be executed.::_ Tony was getting a whiplash from all these sudden color changes. He may be in need of a doctor by the time this was all over.

_-These threats endanger our plans and shorten our time to execute them properly. It may eventually lead to some grave consequences in future repetitions that we cannot undo if we don't do things right here and now.-_

_)But we can't do these things on our own.(_

_/Nor can we fight these threats./_

_\Which is where you and the six ambassadors come into play.\_

"I'm sorry, what?" The human interrupted, trying to follow, making the right leaps to do so but this was seriously confusing him now. Ambassadors? What ambassadors!? And six of them? Oh, this was just _great_. How was this his life again?

_~Ambassadors of our power, our Chosen.~_ The Soul Stone was kind enough to enlighten him. _~Besides our two contenders, we choose twelve ambassadors who will be loyal to one or the other contender. Six for each.~_

_/We try to choose those who we believe will be able to live long enough to see the beginning of the end./_ Tony frowned in the green light, now truly stumped.

"Well, I hate to break it to you, but Stephen isn't immortal to see this 'beginning of the end' thing. He's as human as I am. Probably more so, what with the Extremis now in my system. He won't exactly last all that long unless he draws on the energy from the Dark Dimension, which I can tell you right here and now that he _won't_. The longest he'll live is maybe a hundred plus. And while we're on the topic of 'here', where _am _I?"

_~You are at the point where the elements of existence collide, where nothing but us can exist. Here, the universe begins its cycles each time and here they end.~_ The Soul Stone replied, the nothingness taking on that pretty orange shade that reminded Tony of home because it reminded him of _JARVIS _and a little bit of Stephen and Wong, whom he had always felt safe and at ease with. Wasn't it ironic that a pair of sorcerers made Tony more comfortable than most other people, especially with his experience with magic. _~This is our domain.~_

"Then how come _I'm_ here?" The inventor all but demanded, pleased to be getting _some_ answers.

_/You are now a part of us just like we are a part of you./_ The world was green again and Tony closed his eyes against the familiarity of that voice but knowing his friend wouldn't be there to look back at him. _/You can be brought here through our combined power should we wish an audience with you./_

"And _why_ am I here?" That was the million dollar question, wasn't it? Tony would really like to know because he had absolutely no idea. They kept spouting things about ambassadors and contenders and longevity and who knows _what_ else. He was too old for this shit. And that threat they kept talking about ... Tony had suffered through six years of knowing about Thanos when no one else would believe him. He couldn't go through that again. Never again. It had been too much the first time around. He can't just ... go back to something like that and live through it again.

_/And you won't./_ He almost jumped at the suddenness of the words when he had been getting lost in his own thoughts. _/My Keeper would never leave your side. He has sworn to himself an oath to protect you and help you however he can and however much you let him./_

_)My own ambassador would believe you.::_ The Space Stone stated with surety that was so usual for Loki that Tony wasn't even surprised by it in the Space Stone's feminine drawl. _::He had been too often on the receiving end of scorn and disbelief to not know what it is like to have no one listening when you are giving them fair warning. He has seen enough to know never to brush someone off.(_

_::My chosen ambassador has already sworn to always listen to you. He had seen how much you need someone lending you an ear. He had seen you need someone to _believe_ you. That your concerns are rightful.::_

_\You only need the Ambassadors to listen to you.\_

_-Everyone else is of little consequence. The Ambassadors are meant to help you. The rest matter not.-_

_~As for why you are here,~_ the Soul Stone continued, answering his question once again. _~We have summoned you here to ask whether you would wish to stay here. With us.~_ At his stunned silence, the comforting voices of his dearest and nearest rushed to explain. _~It would be like falling asleep, outside of here. Your body would be fine. But you would be here, away from all that has been causing you this pain and suffering that you don't wish to ever repeat. We would keep you safe and away from all that upsets you and would only send you back to your body if there was a need for it, for your and our intervention. You can come and go as you please, of course. It is your choice.~_

"But why would you want to keep me here at all?"

_-You are not the same anymore, our Chosen. Our power has changed you. You are not the same measly human you were.-_

"I'm sorry, _what_!?"

_~We need you, Anthony Stark.~_ The Soul Stone once again was quick to speak with him. Its power washed over him, as comforting as the voices, as the orange light it emitted, and Tony couldn't help but stop mid-panic attack. _~The universe _needs_ you. We _all_ do. Because only you can help us. There are threats bigger than Thanos that would bring about a swifter end to this repetition. We should like to avoid that, if at all possible.~_

_/We would like to know whether you will help us./_ The Time Stone continued. _/What we would ask of you to do is not easy. Especially as we wish to remain with you until the very end of this repetition. Some events have been set into motion that threaten to accelerate the coming of that finish. There will be many obstacles and many hard places. The decisions you make will have many consequences and you will have to watch them take place. There is much to do and many preparations to make before the Devourer comes./_

"Devourer?"

_\There is much you must yet learn.\_

_-The fate of many lives rests on your decision.-_

_::Several whole dimensions and dozens of planets are at stake.::_

_)There are at the very least three civilizations that depend on you.(_

Tony got the feeling that the Soul Stone was _very_ sheepishly smiling at him as it said _~No pressure.~_ He rolled his eyes. As though he needed to be persuaded to do all that needed to be done to save people. He had spent too many years endangering and taking lives with his weapons while letting Obadiah take the reins of his company and dealing under the table with terrorists. He still had much making up to do. He may not have fired or sold those weapons, but they were his creations and each of his creations had a little piece of himself in it. It was usually a good thing because it meant his things were better than other people's products but it also had the unfortunate side effect of it being a personal thing when his creations in any way negatively affected the lives of others. He never allowed himself not to care - not even to _pretend_ not to care - ever again. Obadiah's betrayal and Yinsen's sacrifice had given birth to Iron Man and Tony stark had nourished the hero through his own hardships over the years. It was practically _instinct_ now to throw himself in the way of danger to save or protect someone.

The Infinity Stones were asking him to do just that. To protect and save. To fight for those who can't fight on their own. To do what Iron Man has always done. Not to avenge. To protect and preserve.

"What do I need to do?"


	47. Chapter 47

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

The first thing Stephen was aware of when he returned to the real world from the Soul Dimension was that he was not on Titan but on Earth, the familiar energy and gravity pull settling something in him he hadn't even realized was disgruntled. He breathed in a deep breath of fresh air and enjoyed it as it filled his starved lungs.

The second thing he registered, though, was something red and gold pitching sideways not ten meters away from him and the world from under him when he realized it was Tony. Before he even fully regained the sensation in his legs, he was running forwards, rushing, doing everything in his power to reach Tony before the genius hit the ground and split his skull on one of the stones lying around in the desert. Still, a familiar red cloth reached Stark long before Stephen could, stopping the shorter man's fall just before his head got too close to the ground. The Cloak of Levitation carefully shuffled Iron Man until the man was ready to be handed off to its master and Stephen had never been so grateful for his constant companion.

"Mr Stark!?"

"Tony!"

"Stark!"

Those and several other similar cries echoed around him as he cradled his friend close to his chest, Peter Parker all but teleporting himself to the two men. Stephen wasn't really paying attention to any of them as he frantically checked the genius engineer over, both as a doctor and as a sorcerer. The man had minor injuries that were already healing due to Extremis, Stark's own energies and the six Infinity Stones still glowing merrily on Tony's left hand. But the man was bordering on exhausted. If he were a car, he'd be running on fumes and it was a miracle he had managed to put up that good of a fight without coming out lacking some limbs or an eye.

"Tony? Can you hear me?" He whispered in the man's ear as he felt around for his pule so his wrist. For a while, he actually thought that he can't find it due to his damaged hands but then panic set it when he realized it was because it was absent. "Tony?!" He called again, already lowering the genius to the ground, searching for anything resembling a release latch. "JARVIS, FRIDAY, let me in!"

Thankfully, the AIs listened to the doctor and the armor retreated back into the casing that was the Arc Reactor glowing in Tony's chest. Stephen wasted no time in preforming a heart massage, infusing his hands with magic both to steady and strengthen them and to send healing energy into Tony's system. He had to be careful around the reactor implanted in Tony's chest regardless how skin deep its presence was. He was only half aware of everyone gathering around them or cries of joy and relief when others started reappearing from the Soul World. He was almost completely sure only Banner, Pepper, Rhodey, Happy, Wong, Peter, Harley, Kamala and Dante were paying any attention right now to the very scary possibility that they might lose their savior right here and now.

"Come on, Tony. You can't give up now, you douchebag." He talked through his own huffs of air from the strain of the medical procedure. "The world still needs you. You can't leave me to deal with your mess. Don't be a dick, Stark. You've got work to do. No time to play the sleeping beauty. Come on come on come on come _on_!" He yelled before taking a breath and leaning over his patient's face, connecting his and Tony's lips together and blowing air into the smaller man's lungs. He had to be careful with that, too, since he knew Tony's lung capacity wasn't just smaller than his own. It was smaller than most people's, reduced by the first Arc Reactor and all the damage his chest took over the years. Siberia had not been kind and not even Extremis could heal all of it. "We need you back, Stark!" He yelled as soon as he pulled apart and took a long breath in. He pressed his ear to Tony's mouth and nose and checked his pulse and gave a frustrated scream as he went right back to the heart massage.

"Tony?" He heard Captain America's worried, panicked voice ask from somewhere behind him but he didn't care. He didn't pause in his actions, counting the pumps he gave his friend's fragile heart, cursing Tony's Vibranium chest as it put up more resistance than a normal chest would. His hands were going to hurt like hell and Tony will have some serious bruising but his ribs at least won't be broken after, unlike most cases when a heart massage has been preformed. "What's going on?! Tony!"

"You need to step back, Rogers," came Carol's deadly calm voice as she no doubt took a defensive stance between the doctor at work and the approaching supersoldier. Stephen barely registered all of the Iron Man suits, the Iron Legion, Rescue, War Machine, Iron Lad and the Iron Spider activating weapons to support the claim and he didn't even glance up when several nearby sorcerers called upon their magic in defense as well.

"Uncle Tony?" Cooper asked in a tearful, terrified voice as he and Barton got down to the once battlefield and Stephen was suddenly all too aware of just how many people were crowded around him. His hands started to shake and he has to repress the urge to clench his fists needlessly when a pair of red, synthetic hands came into his field of vision. He looked up only long enough to acknowledge Vision's presence before he returned to trying to restart Tony's heart.

"What do you need, doctor?" Apparently, the android didn't need the Mind Stone to read minds, something Stephen was immensely grateful for.

"Some room. I need some room. Get rid of the peanut gallery, will you?"

It was FRIDAY who obliged his request, her Irish lilting tones coming from the armors and drones as she directed everyone to take several steps back. Stephen dove for Tony's mouth again, breathing two breaths into the genius' lungs before listening to hear if he was successful. He cursed when Tony stubbornly remained still and got back to work just as someone dared break the parameter.

"Hey!" It was none other than Peter Quill, shoving the other Peter out of the way to get a closer look. It appears as though everyone who had turned to dust on Titan had appeared on Earth with the reversal of the snap. "Wizard cape guy! The hell were you thinking, giving up the Time Stone! We could have reversed Gamora's death, you asshole! Hey, are you even _listening_ to me! I'm talking to you-argh!"

"And now you're shutting up and letting Strange work." That would be Nebula, if Stephen remembered right - he did. In many of the futures he'd seen where Tony survived the battle on Titan, Nebula became his confidant and one of those people Tony Stark 'adopted' into his strange family. There was no more loyal person to Tony Stark than Nebula that was not his creation. Or Stephen, but with his love for the man, it didn't count to compare them.

"What? No! Nebula, Gamora is _dead_ and _that guy_ could have reversed it!" Stephen guessed he was being pointed at but he had focused on something else. Some_one_ else. A familiar presence that was almost as chilling as the cold of Everest, wrapped up in magic almost as thick and as a heavy fog.

"Shut _up_, Quill! I'm fine!"

"_Gamora_!?"

"Earth sorcerer," the familiar slick, smooth voice of Loki greeted his ears as he was escorted by Thor to the kneeling doctor and downed Iron Man. He didn't even bother to remind Loki of his proper title that the other knew _very_ well or even look up. Yes, Loki was dangerous but Stephen was slowly reaching the dangerous four minute deadline. If he didn't get Tony breathing by then, permanent brain trauma might cause the genius even more trouble. If he lived at all.

_'No, no. You can't think like that, Strange. Focus. You're a doctor. You have a patient. Calm. I need to stay calm. This id just like surgery. Just like every other patient I ever had.'_ Except that it wasn't. This was Tony and a doctor's worst nightmare was always to have to treat their loved ones. Knowing intimately all fourteen million six hundred and four futures - if not even more. _Gods_, how many more he had seen before even stepping on Titan - without Tony Stark in them wasn't helping the matter. Stephen had already mourned countless times and he should be used to it but he wasn't and he never will be. Tony was the most important person to him and Strange was ready to burn the universe down to its foundations for the man should the genius ever ask it of him.

"I am offering Asgard's healing magic, Strange." Loki said, calling for his attention again. "I am rather good at it. This idiot always gets hurt and I used to have to heal him all the time. Earth medicine doesn't seem to be enough."

Stephen's head snapped up and he glared at Loki for a moment, only very brief and long enough to get the message across that Stephen was still watching him, before nodding and shuffling Vision and Nebula a little to the side to make room for the Frost Giant. Loki gracefully knelt by Tony's side, potent healing magic clouding his hands already as he reached towards where Stephen had been holding his hands just a little to the left from the Arc Reactor.

"You better get up, Stark." Nebula threatened from where she was watching, holding onto the sleeve of Tony's undersuit like a little child clinging to their parent. Her words sounded sure but there was an almost undetectable waver in her voice as she spoke. Stephen only heard it because he already knew what it sounded like. It spoke volumes to anyone who knew anything about Nebula that she was here and not with her just revived sister. Gamora may be important to her but Tony had a way of worming his way into a person's heart by accepting them into his, faults and flaws and all, and Nebula had desperately needed someone to accept her for who she was. "You hear me? If you don't, I'll beat you up. That's not an idle threat."

Vision, who was holding onto his creator's Gauntlet-free hand, gave her an understanding look. The cyborg and android had much in common, in many ways, but their greatest point of contact was Tony and neither was ready to lose him.

"Friend Stark is a strong warrior." Thor reassured her in booming tones that drowned out, even if for a moment, Pepper's and Susan's sobs, the curses flying from the mouths of all of the Accords approved heroes and many of the Wakandans. This should have been a joyful, tearful moment of immense relief and a feeling of victory should be prominent in the air. They had won a great battle and the world was set to right. Except it wasn't because they were now faced with the possibility that _Tony_ won't be in it. Not even the rowdy Asgardians were celebrating such a hard won battle and none of the sorcerers present dared open a portal to leave, regret on their faces as they watched their Sorcerer Supreme being inches away from having a breakdown over the too still form of their temporary Sorcerer Supreme, Earth's best defender. "He will get through this. He survived a city falling on him! And my brother is an excellent magic user. He has healed some of my most difficult wounds and I have no doubt he can do it for friend Stark, too."

"I can't do it." Many heads snapped over to Loki when he said those words, their hearts in their throats when he let go of Tony's chest, sweat dribbling down his forehead and breathing like he had just ran a marathon. "He's not injured. His heart had stopped but there is no reason or cause that magic could heal. I don't ... I don't know how to help him. It's beyond my hands and the device in his chest isn't really helping it, either."

"FUCK!" Stephen cursed and several people jumped in fright. They had never heard him curse before. They had never heard him _raise his voice_, let alone yell like this. But he didn't have the time to ponder any of that. "Thor, I need a charge." The blond Asgardian frowned but immediately did as he was told, gathering a relatively small charge in his hand, his eyes glowing as he called upon his power. Stephen grabbed his hand and motioned for him to do the same in his free hand, too, before taking both and placing them in the correct position. "When I say clear, let the charge loose into his chest, but only for a second and then let up. We may need to repeat this a few times so be ready. _Are_ you ready?"

"Whenever you are, sorcerer." Stephen tried not to think just how serious the situation was that Thor wasn't using any of his silly nicknames he had come up with for Stephen. He can panic later.

"Clear." Tony's body jolted when Stephen put Thor's hands on either side of the Arc Reactor but the man still remained not breathing. The ex neurosurgeon grit his teeth and pushed Thor's hands back down again. "Clear." Again, nothing. Stephen cursed like a sailor and touched the Arc Reactor with his shaking hand, motioning for Thor to stay in place. "JARVIS, please tell me you can do _something_!"

The most advanced AI in the world sounded as defeated as Stephen felt. "I am sorry, doctor, but I have tried. Extremis is responding but Sir's condition is not changing. I a, lost as to what I should do. The injections had as little result as any of your attempts."

Stephen ran a shaking hand through his hair, only now noticing how much they were shivering. He wouldn't be able to hold anything in them right now.

"What about the magic Tony has in him?" Vision suggested, sounding so hopeful, so _desperate_ that Stephen felt his heart break in two. He had been trying to draw the power to the surface but it wasn't dimensional energy. The power responded only to Stark. It was entirely his own so no one could use it but him. Vision seemed to understand that won't work by the way his shoulders slumped.

"Clear." Thor did as he was supposed to and Tony's body jerked up again. Still no positive response. They were running out of time. Time ... His head snapped up, looking from Tony's chest down to his Gauntlet-covered left hand. There was no damage to the appendage as opposed to their fears so the design of the Gauntlet, from Eitri's forging to the Starkenium core, had been successful. Stephen was relieved about that, at least, since the design had worked in only one timeline he had seen and he had seen several where the design was ineffective to the point of Tony exploding.

The Starkenium core was shinning as brightly as the Arc Reactor and around it, the Infinity Stones shone brightly, all six of them and Stephen felt the Time Stone calling to him. Time ...

"Could we use the glowing thing to jump-start the Gauntlet and somehow heal friend Stark?" Thor asked, breaking him out of his small distracted trance of an idea forming just in time for JARVIS to respond.

"Using the Arc Reactor to create an EMP would very likely kill several people, disable all electronic devices in a fifteen mile radius and permanently damage several devices. Especially with the Starkenium core."

"I don't think we need to use the Arc Reactor or the core in the Gauntlet." Stephen spoke up, bringing the attention back to him. "Several people here have once been in contact with at least one Infinity Stone. I think if we combine our power, we can get the Gauntlet to do our work for us. We just need to work together."

Loki was the only one who immediately got what he wanted to say, nodding. "It could work. We'd distribute the power charge between us and will the Stones into compliance. We just need a second."

"It's impossible." Nebula protested, having seen what the Power Stone alone could do to anyone who tried to hold it for longer than a couple of seconds. "Even if several people were to try and use only _one S_tone, we'd not mange to control their powers. All of us together wouldn't manage it." She gestured to the army gathered around them, even those who had returned after being turned to dust. "We'll just get killed."

"Tony has done so much for us already. He would do even much more. Without hesitation." Vision spoke up, tightening his hold on his creator. "Don't we owe it to him to at least try?"

On the Infinity Gauntlet, unnoticed by anyone but Stephen who actually felt it, the Mind Stone stirred, glowing brighter.

"Friend Tony is a man of great honor and valor. The universe would be at a great loss should we let him slip away." As Thor spoke, the red gleam of the Reality Stone also strengthened, joining the Mind Stone.

Nebula just looked at them all before turning to Strange. She was waiting for his own two cents. He gave a dollar. "We have two uniting factors working for us. We all both want to save Tony, desperately, and we all have stood up to and defied Thanos where anyone else would have run the other way. The six of us can save him, Nebula. If we were not meant to be the ones to help him, the Stones would have sent us away." The Time Stone merrily winked at him from bellow, acknowledging him as its Keeper once more.

"Six?" Thor, Loki and Nebula asked, confused, but Vision was the one who nodded towards the Arc Reactor in Iron Man's chest.

"I am always here for Sir. _Always_." JARVIS voice, doused in determination and stubbornness that could match his creator's, greeted their ears and the Soul Stone shone brighter in acknowledgement of him taking his place as its Ambassador. Four Stones were now shinning brightly, welcoming their four Ambassadors. Stephen was glad to have researched many things in this one future where they won because he knew what the Stones wanted. He was a little bit embarrassed that it had taken him this long to remember this little detail. But he guessed even he was allowed to occasionally make a mistake or two or forget something, even with his edict memory.

"I owe the Man of Iron many things. I will not fail him when he finally needs me." A blue glow added to the collection, the Space Stone lighting up with the other Infinity Stones at Loki's words.

"Then I guess it's settled." Nebula stated, rolling her shoulders and joints, eyes determined. "What do we need to do?" The Power Stone finally shone brighter, accepting Nebula as its Ambassador and joining its fellows in their illumination of Stark and the people immediately around him.

"We just need to be in contact with him and focus on a Stone." Stephen explained, demonstrating by taking hold of Tony's left wrist. He would have interlocked their fingers but he didn't want to touch the Infinity Stones when they were shinning so brightly. "We just need to give them a little of our power, accept them and they will do the rest."

"Sounds easy enough." The blond Asgardian commented, already putting a large hand over Tony's knee while Loki placed his hand on Tony's shoulder. After some shuffling, Vision remained holding Tony's free hand while Nebula also had his other shoulder.

"Just don't get distracted. And don't pull away." Loki warned, locking eyes with Strange. As the two magic users and two Stonekeepers who have actually used an Infinity Stone to its full capacity, they will have to guide the others through this. Thor and Nebula had never really used an Infinity Stone and Vision had known how to do only so much. "Follow my and Strange's lead."

The others nodded, not exactly eager to try anything on their own when they knew what the Stones could do if handled poorly.

"Is everyone ready?" Stephen asked and the others all replied, JARVIS'voice the last one, coming from some sort of speakers in the nanobot housing unit on Tony's chest that he had never thought to ask him about beforehand. Later. Stephen took a large, long breath before speaking again. "Then let's begin."

As soon as they sent their energy into the Stones, they responded, their light becoming blinding once more, unbearable to look at, making everyone close their eyes. The Ambassadors of the Stones, though, squinted through the painfully bright light as they concentrated on their task while the Stones put the universe on the axis they wanted. Each of the Stones allowed a strip of power to wrap around their chosen Ambassador, lighting the person up in their color, claiming them before existence itself as theirs. Strange tried not to think about what this meant for them individually and what it meant for the universe, focusing on bringing Tony back. He could feel the other's aura now, so close and yet still so far out of reach so he _pushed_. Pushed harder, reached further, determined to get to his friend and stubborn enough to not back down when the pain hit. He was used to pain. It was an old friend. He can deal with pain.

What he refused to deal with was burying another important person in his life.

As if answering his thoughts, the Stones pulsed with a new wave of power before their light receded and faded, the Stones falling dormant in the Gauntlet, not even twinkling anymore. The other Ambassadors almost doubled over at the unexpected release of power, trying to catch their breath again but Stephen was too busy brushing off his own pain to pay attention to them.

And then brown eyes snapped open, turning electric blue as a gasp rang out in the desert, louder than thunder.

Tony Stark was awake and _alive_.


	48. Chapter 48

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

The Sorcerer Supreme all but crumbled with relief when he saw those eyes - colored an Arc Reactor blue by Extremis - lock on his own, momentarily confused before they, too, filled with relief. Tony didn't even wait to fully ground himself in this reality before he lurched up into a sitting position and threw his arms around Stephen's neck, burying his face in the ex neurosurgeon's neck, breathing him in, dust, sweat, blood, grime and all.

"You're here," the shorter man breathed in relief and disbelief, clinging to the sorcerer. "You're really here! I ... "

"I am." And Stephen was clutching at Iron Man with just as much strength, needing to reassure himself that Tony was indeed alive, that he was really breathing. That this wasn't a dream world conjured up by the Soul Stone to keep him in its dimension, happy and unaware. It had been a battle of wills ever since he woke up in the Soul Dimension, his own magic and status as the Time Stone's Keeper the only thing keeping him from succumbing to the seductive images of the Soul Stone. It had given him such sweet promises, whispered possibilities that would have made him crumble and accept had he not met Tony prior to this whole mess.

He had been offered a life in which his little sister, Donna, never died and his family remained a tight knit group. He was presented with the possibility of regaining his hands, his accident never happening. A world where the Ancient One hadn't died. A reality in which Mordo never left. A time where stopping Dormammu had not required him needing to let the demon kill him over and over and over again. A life in which he and Christine got married and had kids, with his eyes and Christine's kindness. They were all selfish desires and Stephen had not been even moved by them, resisting them all with equal intensity. Not even the one where he could have all of the above tempted him.

So the Soul Stone tried less selfish means to persuade him. It showed him a life where Tony Stark never got the Arc Reactor, a reality where Iron Man didn't exist. The Avengers were never formed and the attack on New York never happened. Ultron never scarred Tony's mind and he was never forced to fight against his friends because _they didn't exist in his life_. It showed him how Tony would have been had the Civil War never happened and destroyed what was left of his willingness to trust in others. The Stone created a world in which Tony and Pepper never broke up and instead got married, having a kid they named Morgan, enjoying their fame and money and charity galas. He was presented with a happy Tony Stark who hadn't been haunted by Thanos for six years and who hadn't fought for his legacy to be more than destruction as fiercely as the one Stephen knew.

It showed him a man that Stephen refused to call Tony Stark.

Even when it tried to combine Stephen's own 'dream life' with his unconditional love for Tony, replacing him in Pepper's place, Stephen would not accept what he was shown.

Because the Soul Stone was mistaken. He _was_ a _very_ selfish man. He loved the Tony Stark he had come to know and he wouldn't change him for the universe, scars and flaws and all. The worlds the Soul Stone offered for his compliance paled when compared to the brilliance that was the _real_ Tony Stark. Strange wanted nothing more than to bask in that brilliance and so he rejected everything the Soul Stone tried to show him. He broke free of its hold and created a pocket dimension of his own, isolating himself from its influences. He waited there, waited until Tony was ready to come and ask for his help. He had studied some aspects of this one future where they won _very_ carefully. The _how_ was what he had paid the most attention to. Which was why he had transfered some of his knowledge to Tony, teaching him how to control the Time Stone to ease his way in battle so he can get the others. Fighting Thanos hadn't been easy the first time around but he knew Stark would study that battle to familiarize himself with Thanos' style so he can take down the Mad Titan. He had placed all of his bets on Tony and he was now collecting his prize.

Being able to touch another human being had never felt this amazing before.

"You did it, Tony. You won." He whispered in the engineer's ear, delighting in being able to do so in the real world, holding the smaller man tighter. "You brought us all back. We're safe and Thanos is defeated. You _did_ it, Tony! _You_." The former doctor smiled as the Cloak of Levitation shuffled around to wrap around the both of their bodies, like a nice big burrito. "I never doubted you." And that was the honest, naked truth. And it was enough to make Tony's breathing hitch.

"Mr Stark!" But that was what was needed for the floodgate. Peter was there before Tony could disengage their hug, crushing both adults in an even bigger embrace with his enhanced strength. The kid was shaking as he clung to his mentor on the other side of Stephen and buried his nose in Tony's neck. Tony twisted around enough to draw the kid closer as tears started trailing down his cheeks. And then Vision and Nebula were there, drawn to Tony like moths to a flame, only to be seconds later shuffled into the hug by an eager Rhodey and Pepper and Harley. Kamala and Dante, both of whom also had found themselves a father figure and mentor in Iron Man, soon joined in on the crying laughter as they all held each other tight.

That was when the celebrations could finally start. Thor released a booming laugh as he grabbed Loki and hugged him tight, tears streaming from his good eye as he spun his revived brother in excited circles, Stormbreaker lying forgotten on the desert floor by their feet. Bruce was greeted in a tight hug by Brunhilda even as he and Betty clung to each other, temporarily preventing the scientist from greeting Tony with his own hug, too. Heimdall was soon drawn into the Revengers' circle as Thor gathered his friends close and clung to them like a terrified child, refusing to let them go lest they disappear again. Romanoff could only watch as Bruce forgot all about her and focused on his new life, away from lies and SHIELD agents. The Red Room graduate could only stand by Wanda as they both watched the love of their life choose their family over them. Neither Bruce nor Vision had even _looked_ in their direction.

Stephen was too busy being relieved to have Tony there and well to feel sympathetic towards them.

Rogers, though he obviously wanted to worm his way into the hug surrounding Tony, was blindsided by Barns' and Wilson's reappearances and turned to where he was currently welcome, probably thinking that he and Tony could _talk_ later. As if anyone from the TSPS would ever let him come within hearing distance of the genius. The Bartons were all together, hugging it out and crying their relief while Shuri, her mother and Okoye cried all over T'Challa, all the while cursing and threatening him to never do this to them again. Lang was with his family and friends and the mutants and Inhumans were all greeting those whom they've had temporarily lost. It was a relief to see both Logan and Laura reappear. Out of all of the mutants, Stephen knew them the best and had been distressed to see them wandering the Soul Dimension along with everyone else. The sorcerers greeted their returned comrades with grace and dignity while the Asgardians roaringly laughed together and celebrated.

The Guardians of the Galaxy all hugged each other before Quill drew Gamora into a deep, long kiss that ended up making Nebula lunge from the 'Stark family' hug where even the AIs had gotten into it, wrenching her sister out of Peter's hands and hugging her herself. Rocket was just glad to get his oldest friend back. Jane greeted Selvig and Darcy with enthusiasm that rivaled Thor's and May Parker managed to draw even Wong into the 'family hug', she and Happy Hogan keeping a sharp eye on Tony and Peter. The kid eventually greeted his driver and his aunt while Rhodey went over to greet Sam back. Betty was just glad to have Cho and Wu back. KAREN was most excited and relieved to have her charge back and was playing all of his favorite songs on the Iron Spider suit's speakers. Harley at one point went over to his own family. Danny was just relieved to have the Defenders back and the Fantastic Four were all being almost strangled by Susan's hug.

Eventually, one by one, all the people present would turn towards the two men still clinging to each other even as everyone greeted everyone else. Stephen never let go of Tony and the shorter man seemed to be much of the same disposition as him, the most content to be holding onto the other as if afraid that letting go would wrench the other away from this glorious moment of victory. The people around them would walk up to them, grateful to the core, completely sincere in their gratitude as they thanked the pair. Stephen corrected every single one of them that it was all Tony, who, in turn, actually did the same. They would shoot each other incredulous and exasperated looks and bicker about how it was Stephen who set them on the path of victory and Tony only followed his instructions verses how it would _always_ have been Tony who brought them this victory, whether Stephen had interfered or not. It brought their companions great amusement and lifted everyone's spirit even more. The relaxed air around them was baffling after such a strenuous battle and the week all of them have had and everyone was more than eager to enjoy this peace while it still lasted.

Which was why both genius men were blindsided when Rogers appeared in front of them, fell to his knees and reached for Tony like a blind man finally seeing for the first time. The engineer recoiled back into the sorcerer's chest, panicked at the supersoldier's sudden appearance and Stephen narrowed his eyes when the armor started reacting. The Cloak of Levitation, always having been fond of both men from the very start, yanked them out of reach, ignoring their indignant yelps or the kicked puppy look Rogers was portraying. Stephen had always known the blond was an idiot but he had never expected the man to be that much of an idiot as to frown in determination and reach for the genius again. He could see the Infinity Stones slowly powering up, glowing brighter threateningly, not that Steve seemed to get the message, and Tony's own magic was rising to his unconscious call while JARVIS and FRIDAY didn't bother stopping Extremis from forming Tony's armor around him. The Cloak was already preparing itself for battle but Stephen decided to intervene.

He threw up a shield around them, having only so much strength left that he made it only strong enough to get his message across, preventing Rogers from reaching Tony but not strong enough for any form of attack. It did its intended job, though, making the blond supersoldier recoil back when it appeared and his hand accidentally touched it. He looked up and stared at Strange with uncomprehending eyes before his brow set in a frown that he directed at the Sorcerer Supreme. Said Sorcerer Supreme introduced Rogers to his death glare, tempted to just throw him into the Dark Dimension and be done with it. He didn't need Captain Righteous triggering Tony's PTSD after the day he had had. Extremis can deal with only so much and BARF can help only to a certain extent. That and he really just disliked Rogers.

"We'd appreciate it if you would step back and _leave_, Mr Rogers." He informed the soldier out of time in a freezing voice that broke no argument and would have sent any sorcerer, doctor, intern or apprentice running the other way. Rogers obviously didn't have two brain cells to rub together in order to recognize how smart it would be to back off. Because he didn't. He clenched his fists and his jaw worked in frustration, like every other time he had had to deal with Stephen.

"I was under the impression that Tony could speak for himself."

"And I was under the impression that I have been perfectly clear when I heavily implied for you to _get lost_," Stephen immediately fired back, tightening his hold on the above mentioned savior of the universe. "You're not wanted here. Not after what you've done."

Steve just ground his jaw harder. "I thought I was doing the right thing. Those satellites are dangerous! They could have been used against us as easily as they could have been used against our enemies. Even though they might have been useful a week ago, they're still too dangerous now and we'd all be better off if they were taken down."

Strange frowned in confusion, having absolutely no idea what the man was talking about, but he felt Tony stiffen against him and he flinched when Stark's aura suddenly lashed out in uncontrollable rage. He frowned even deeper as he felt Tony wrangle the beast that was his anger back under control, but it wasn't fast enough to stop the Infinity Stones from flaring in response to his emotions. The force of the flareup pushed Rogers back by a few feet before it was leashed by the genius, frowning at his own lack of control over such immense power when emotionally compromised, as though it was his fault. But before he could try to reassure Tony, it suddenly dawned on him just what Rogers had said and what it actually meant and his blood _boiled_.

"It was _you_!?" He hissed out in a dangerous whisper, his magic coming to his call before he even consciously registered that he was drawing upon dimensional energy. The whips of golden magic swirling around him sent Rogers scrambling to get even further away from them but Tony didn't so much as flinch. It said a lot about how close they had gotten that magic was a part of Tony's every day life now and he accepted everything that came with it with such ease and elegance. He would have had a panic attack had Stephen lashed out with his magic just a couple of months ago. It spoke of the trust he had in Stephen and that only made the sorcerer more protective of him. Evidenced by the way his hold tightened on the shorter man.

"Strange-"

"Do you have _any_ idea as to what you could have caused!?" The doctor thundered, leaving all who knew him flabbergasted. They had never seen him this angry before. They had never heard him yell like this. "You could have destroyed this entire timeline! There was only _one way_ for us to win and reverse the snap and when I viewed the future, I never saw a betrayal! You could have doomed us all!"

"Yeah, well," Rogers floundered, glaring back at the doctor and adjusting his hold on the Vibranium triangle shield that T'Challa had provided him with during his stay in Wakanda. "You actually gave up the Time Stone to Thanos! While the rest of us were risking our _lives_ to protect the Mind Stone here on Earth! Had it not been for you, the Mind Stone would have remained broken and all of us would have been spared a lot of grief!"

"You _broke_ the Mind Stone!?" Every single person who had been turned to dust on Titan roared, along with Loki and Gamora, staring at Steve incredulously and with disgust. "Are you insane!?"

"You were far from risking your lives." Nebula flatly replied to what Steve had said earlier. "Thanos didn't want to kill anyone besides Stark. Or have none of you noticed how he was the only one Thanos fought seriously?"

"I would have to agree to that." Gamora nodded from where she stood amongst her friends, fingering her sword, ready to jump in and help should Tony require it. Seeing as Nebula was all but ready to jump into action at any second now, to come to her friend's aid, it was no surprise whatsoever that her sister was ready to be there as her backup.

"So, wait." Johnny interrupted from where the Fantastic Four was standing and watching it all unfold. "Are you telling me Steve Rogers, _Captain America_, had turned off the shielding you guys have been working on for months, dooming us all to a fight we had no hopes of winning, especially once Thanos had two and then _three_ Infinity Stones?"

"Pretty much."

"Not cool, man." The younger Storm glared at the supposed legendary hero of WWII. Steve just ground his jaw harder.

"It had to be done. It was the only way to make sure the government and the World War Council can't spy on us or always keep us on target. HYDRA had infiltrated them once. What's stopping them from doing it again?"

Stephen had some choice words for the blond and a Dark Dimension he wanted to introduce him to, but a familiar voice beat him to it. "You dumbass motherfucking piece of shit!" All heads swiveled to the side, staring with slack-jawed shock at the approaching, furious Nick Fury and a very much pissed off Maria Hill, walking towards them at a brisk pace with a very disappointed and very sad Phil Coulsion. Behind them, the New SHIELD and SI secret agents were marching as if on a warpath, finally having had enough of Rogers' shit and finally ready to give him a piece of their minds. If he survives Fury chewing him up first, that is. "What the fucking hell were you thinking!? No, you weren't fucking thinking at all! You just decided to screw us over because Captain fucking America is _always_ right and knows what's best for _everyone_! Never mind that you only recently even learned about the threat that others have been preparing for just _fine_ without your dumb ass to fuck it up! Never mind that you're from the _fucking_ 1940's, where you could get away with this shit just because there was no one but Shmit to stand up to you in a fight so you were always 'right'! Never mind that it was a fucking team of fucking geniuses, the most intelligent people on our planet, that you were deciding to say you knew better than! Never mind that this was a world wide approved project! You just had to fucking get involved and now look at what you did!" The eye-patch wearing man gestured at the frankly destroyed Gobi Desert. All those who had once followed Rogers had the decency to be ashamed to have done so in the first place.

Rogers, though, didn't seem to be feeling any of it, to Stephen's immense shock. Did this man have no shame? He nearly doomed the universe as they know it!

"In all due respect, sir," Rogers started saying in his defense. "I'm not the one who gave up an Infinity Stone to our enemy. Strange just proved that the safest hands are our own."

Okay, that's it. Stephen was going to kill him. The Dark Dimension was too good for him. He'd not want to inflict this man on even Dormammu. Not even _he_ deserved to suffer from Rogers' presence. Not even Kaecillius and he's probably the only person Stephen hates since he had killed the Ancient One.

Once again, though, Fury beat him to the punch. Not literally, they'd both break a hand before doing Rogers any damage. "What Strange does and doesn't do with the Time Stone, which _he_ is in charge of protecting, ain't none of my business! And it's _not_ tge topic of conversation, you retarded idiot! As far as I am briefed, and I'm briefed very _damned_ well-" Was it just him or had Fury just nodded at Tony? Well, he guessed that made sense. It would explain why New SHIELD never stuck their noses into their business over the last almost half a year. "Strange can use that thing to look into the future, so I'm willing to bet my remaining eye, both my arms and my position as director of New SHIELD that giving up the Stone was necessary for victory. Seeing as I'm standing here right now when I had been dust a few minutes ago, I'd say it worked out pretty damned well. You, on the other hand, did something fucking stupid and it allowed an alien invasion to take place. This ain't on Loki or Thanos or even Strange - it had never been on 'im. This is about _you_ and how you endangered not only a planet full of people, but the entire goddamned universe, too, for your _fucking_ pride and paranoia. The loss of lives was on a a scale hitherto undreamt of-" Fury glared at Stark and Strange when the two snorted and Banner and Wong had to bite back smirks. Fury made sure they would remain quiet, though, before turning back to the supersoldier he was chewing out. "And had it not been for those two jackasses and Thor, it would have been _permanent_."

Rogers at least had the decency to flinch at that one, although now that he was intimately aware of just _why_ the Civil War had happened and he had a closer study of Rogers' character, Stephen was sure it actually had very little to do with all the innocent people who had been dusted in the Snap and more to do with the fact that he had caused the - temporary, thanks to Tony - death of the very best friend for whom he'd burn the world down to the ground. It made the doctor sick. Although he had to wonder, was he really any different? He _had_ traded an Infinity Stone and trillions upon trillions of lives on the chance that Tony would follow the road he had put him on and manage to save them all if he survived the initial confrontation against Thanos. Only difference was Stephen had done what he had done in hopes of saving the world in the long run.

Rogers had simply forgotten the world even exists when Barnes was in danger.

Fury drawing in a tired sigh but his body language screaming confidence and determination snapped Stephen out of his musings. Everyone was focused on them, allowing Tony a moment of peace even though he, too, was staring intently on this moment that has been long overdue for the past two years.

"Steven Grant Rogers, Captain America, you are hereby under arrest of the Accords division of New SHIELD." He ignored Barnes' and Wilson's protests - it has yet to fully register in their minds just _what_ Rogers had done. They'd be horrified otherwise. Wands was protesting, too, but she was still on thin ice from her last outburst with Tony and Christine - and soldiered on even as agents rushed forward to carry out the arrest. "You will be held in custody at our HQ until your trial date is set. You will be accompanied by ten agents and at least two enhanced individuals at all times. You have no right to a phone call but you _are_ allowed to find yourself a lawyer. If you don't have one, or can't afford one, you will be provided one by the state. It's time for you to make amends, Captain. Wakanda can't save you now." When Rogers went to protest, Nick just shook his head. "You have the right to remain silent - and I am _begging_ you to do so - as anything you say can and _will_ be used against you in court. Please don't resist arrest. As this is an Accords sanctioned arrest, the Avengers are obliged to assist us if we need it and I happen to know at least _two_ people here who can bench-press you in two seconds flat. Just let it go, Cap. It's over. Your story is done and you have no one but yourself to blame. Do the right thing and accept the consequences of your actions. Take for once the responsibility that we all always assumed you have and make yourself accountable for all that you've done. Your future is bleak as it is. At least make things easier on us all, including yourself, by cooperating. It will do you a world of good in court."

Rogers turned helpless eyes on the only person who could save him now and Stephen swore he growled like a caged animal, bringing Tony even closer to himself, if that was even possible at this point. The Avengers, old and New and all their allies, tensed, waiting a confrontation, ready to help their own if it comes to that. The blond supersoldier out of time begged silently with his baby blues but Tony didn't even bat an eyelash at him as he curtly said: "See you in court." That was all the agents needed, the old SHIELD ex-agents taking great delight in roughening up the supersoldier, even if it won't last as they dragged him off.

As soon as he was gone, Tony took in the first gulp of fresh, freeing air since Ultron and didn't wince. He just breathed it in and let it all out, all tension draining from his frame.

And just like that, the clouds cleared and sunlight shone through on Earth's mightiest heroes once again.


	49. Chapter 49

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

Tony couldn't believe he was standing here, in front of all of these people, dressed to the nines in his nicest suit, for the first time revealing to the world just _what_ had happened in that Siberian bunker. The room's attention was solely on him as he spoke, words clear, voice strong and, for the first time since that god forsaken day, no memories rushing to the surface to torture him with anxiety or a panic attack. It was as though time had reversed itself and he was standing in front of a different crowd, all eyes and cameras still trained on him but the words on his lips were quite a bit different. _I am Iron Man_ was what had begun his journey and it will go down into history as the most memorable and important moment for Earth's survival, for her greatest defender and protector was born on that day, promising to her people that he will do all in his power and beyond to protect them.

Today, ironically enough, exactly ten years since that day, he was fulfilling one last step to fulfill that promise. Ten years after he had sworn himself to accountability, he will ensure that the one person who deserved to feel it the most after the past two years will finally be faced with the consequences of his own actions. After years of being hated or barely tolerated, Tony Stark was the hero in this story. People were finally going to listen to him and they were going to listen good. After all, it wasn't every day that one saved the whole universe. And now that they were listening, Tony used this special opportunity to tell it all.

A month ago, Thanos was defeated and the Snap reversed. Tony had made sure that he demanded from the Stones to reverse _everything_ Thanos had done in the previous month, thus reviving not only Gamora, Loki, Heimdall and Brunhilda along with returning all those that had turned to dust, but it had also revived a whole _planet_ of people. Xandar now celebrated Iron Man as a planetary hero and their savior. The decimation still had to be fixed but all of the people that had been killed were brought back. It was more than anyone from Xandar could have hoped for. Tony had a standing invitation to come by whenever he felt like it, although he wasn't allowed to bring Carol along, ever. Xandar had quite some problems with the Kree Empire and, hero or not, Carol wasn't welcome. That was their only condition. And they _did_ want Tony to come around at some point because the children were all now going through _their_ Iron Man phase, much like the kids of Earth had when Tony had first flown the suit.

The Guardians of the Galaxy had ventured out back into space to check on both Xandar and Knowhere to see whether their friends and the Collector were okay. They even went to Sakaar to check on them, too, so they had been away for a while. They had returned only two days ago with great stories and news from all around the universe. Everyone everywhere was brought back after Tony reversed the Snap and they all, somehow, some way, knew who it was that had saved them. The universe was celebrating Tony Stark, was all but worshiping Iron Man and they were all marveling at the suit he had created. They called him a savior, the chosen, the contender. The universe celebrated his name and Earth's politicians didn't know what to make of him anymore.

Everyone knew he had the Infinity Stones and a functioning Gauntlet. They had broadcasted it to the entire universe that the Gauntlet can't be separated from his body and that it will protect him even if he were to somehow die. He was the Stones' chosen contender and the power he now possessed was rightfully his. He had the protection of entire planets, like Xandar and Sakaar and Knowhere. Eitri, the dwarf king himself, insisted that Stark had to come to the now revived Nivadellir. Asgard's people swore a warrior's oath to him as soon as they all gathered in a single place.

He was the Vice Sorcerer Supreme of Earth, as far as the Sorcerers of Kamar-Taj were concerned.

They made sure to tell _everyone_ how well protected he was and just how futile it would be to try and somehow take the gauntlet from him or to use him for their own agendas. The better informed everyone was of it, the less likely it was that every tyrant or conquerer in the universe will descend on Earth in an attempt to achieve their goals by using Tony. With the protection of the Sorcerer Supreme, the King of Asgard and several planets, Tony was very _un_likely to be kidnapped/killed/attacked in a mad bid to get the Infinity Stones. They spread his story across the Galaxy and let the rumor mill run its course. They let _everyone_ learn just what he had been through, whom he had faced, what he had survived and how he had been victorious at the end of it all. No one bothered to hide the fact that Tony Stark knew magic anymore. His control over machines was legendary by now. His intelligence and drive caused both fear and awe, respect and amazement. Many desired the power he now wielded. None dared try come and take it.

But while things were rather mild on a galactic and cosmic level this past month, Earth was in turmoil. First Carol brought news that the Kree wish to come to Earth to meet the savior of half of their people - and the rest of the universe, too, but who's counting, right? - and show their respect. Through some miracle not even the Infinity Stones understood, let alone their all too mortal selves, the ceasefire in the Kree-Scrull war was still standing, neither side eager to go back into battle and lose some of the lives they had just regained. Naturally, if the Kree wished to meet Stark, the Skrulls also wanted to have a meeting with him, too. Tony had had to take two days out of his _very_ busy schedule - there were quite a few court dates he had to attend, as the face of the Accords, leader of the Avengers and Iron Man and as Tony Stark, too and let's not even get into the logistics of creating a whole new role and position in the closed off society of Kamar-Taj such as the Vice Sorcerer Supreme since his oath _still_ held, even with Strange's return to his rightful place - for them _each_ in order to meet them somewhere halfway there. Heaven forbid them deciding that the ceasefire should stop while they were in Earth's orbit. Earth was still recovering from having _one_ intergalactic war take place on its surface. They didn't need another so close to the first - second, if you count the failed invasion back in New York - one ending. So, after that was settled, Tony had several War Council meetings regarding his decisions and actions during the Gobi Brawl, as someone had decided to call it and the name stuck.

Apparently, Earth politicians had a serious problem with the way he had handled the situation. Never mind that had had been running on twelve hours of sleep in the previous week altogether and that he had consumed somewhere between 12,090 and 13,000 calories in that amount of time - which was actually sort of dangerously low with the Extremis burning through his body, since it _burned_ a lot more energy out of him, _especially_ with how extensively he had been using it since Ebony Maw kidnapped Strange - and that the Titan had barged in on them with only ten minutes to prepare. Never mind that the casualty counter was fucking _zero_ and that they had captured Thanos alive so he can pay for his crimes. No, they had wanted more and better without contributing as to _how_ that could be achieved. They just wanted to control him in the same way they had wanted to control Iron Man when the world first became acquainted with the suit. He flipped them off then and he had no problem doing it now. Within the Accords lawful parameters, of course, which just so happened to have a very _extensive_ segment about human rights, privacy, moral and freedom of choice. Tony had made sure of it. The mutants and Inhumans had always wanted to stay as hidden from public eye as can be managed and when the Sorcerers of Kamar-Taj came in, Tony knew he had to make that segment even more detailed and powerful. Their societies survived on their secretiveness, the sorcerers thriving on it as they protected the Earth.

More than anything else in the Accords, Tony had made sure no one could ever be turned into an 'attack dog', as Rogers would put it, or a weapon. And half of the world was bound by it as much as all the heroes who signed the Accords were bound by the document regarding accountability.

The other thing the politicians, military secretaries and heads of secret agencies were mighty pissed about, even Everett Ross and Fury, was that Tony was now considered the prime example of Earth and its intergalactic representative regarding Earth's policies and politics. The dignitaries that had arrived to present the Mechanic with gifts for saving their people absolutely _refused_ to speak with anyone else and sneered whenever an Earth politician or some other representative extended a hand to shake. It didn't help that half of them practically worshiped the ground Tony walked on upon meeting him. Loki found it highly amusing and didn't bother to hide this fact while Nebula did her best to remain impassive about it, no matter how funny some of Tony's reactions were to aliens twice his hight kneeling or bowing to him.

And on _that_ note, what the politicians actually hated the most were the six Ambassadors of Infinity, as the universe has taken to calling them. Two alien demi-gods, one of whom had tried to enslave them, an android, an alien cyborg, a disgraced former neurosurgeon turned the strongest sorcerer on Earth and the most advanced Artificial Intelligence they will ever meet were apparently not good enough for their positions, never mind how crucial they had all been to the fight at one point or the other. Had it not been for Loki destroying the beacon which would have opened Earth's defensive shields and his advice on the Tesseract or the magical shields - Tony ignored all pointed remarks that the shielding had been useless either way, as that would leave to a shouting match that he was pretty sure Thor could win in his stead - had it not been for Vision insisting on them going to Wakanda, where he knew there would be a lot less casualties, had it not been for Thor distracting and fighting Thanos and bringing back the new Gauntlet to Tony, had it not been for Nebula caring for him back on Titan, had it not been for Stephen arranging them all on this lone path that led to victory and had it not been for JARVIS to keep him sane and relatively healthy all these years (with help from FRIDAY, as of late), half of those pain in the ass politicians wouldn't be _here_ right now to bitch at Tony about them not being _suitable_. Tony found it the most hilarious thing in the world that they didn't even have candidates to suggest to take their place, never mind that the Stones have _purposefully_ chosen people Tony was close to and could live for extended amounts of time and _won't_ be changing their chosen Ambassadors any sooner than the would their preferred contender.

No wonder no one in the universe took humans seriously. Well, at least they didn't until Tony came along, blew up half of the universe's largest army with a single bomb and then practically singlehandedly tore Thanos down. As for the multiverse, it knew about not messing with humanity lightly ever since Strange became the Sorcerer Supreme after his spectacular defeat of Dormammu. You don't mess with the species that produced the guy who made that demon submit and freak out.

And speaking of the Sorcerer Supreme ... Tony snuck a glance at Stephen, who was sitting in the crowded court room, listening as intently as every other person in the room as Tony revealed every last detail about what had happened in that Siberian bunker.

He and Strange hadn't really had much time to interact ever since Thanos became the very first prisoner in the quantum-shrunk, Mirror-Dimension-cloaked and sorcerer-protected jailing complex after the battle, awaiting his own trial. The Galactic Council, whatever that was (he ignored the whispers of the Stones as they explained, telling him in great detail millions of years worth of history regarding their activities, decisions, meetings and the like), needed some time to convene and they refused to let Thanos be tried on any single planet. So because Earth could defeat the Mad Titan, they got to imprison him, too, until he is judged and punished. Joy. But as soon as he and Stephen finished overseeing the imprisonment, they were swept off to a long meeting of all the Masters regarding there now, by way of oath, being _two_ Sorcerers Supreme, a thing that will just not do. Tony tried to explain that he will gladly give Stephen the position - he had too much to do outside of Kamar-Taj to be tied down by the post - but once the oath is taken, the Sorcerer Supreme, temporary or not, can't take it back. After hours of arguing, debating and discussing their situation, Tony suggested that, like there was a vice president, there should also be a vice Sorcerer Supreme so that the situation where Earth is defenseless would never occur. They all flinched at the reminder of all those who had been taken by the Snap and Tony wasn't ashamed to admit he spent the rest of the meeting holding Stephen's hand like a kid.

And _speaking_ of _kids_, he finally got both the Keeners and the Parkers to move in permanently into the Tower with him. The Tower will probably soon need some extending or something, the way he keeps dragging more and more people to live there, but it was _extremely_ helpful at the moment. Both May and Peter had some serious PTSD after the Snap, as did most of the Avengers and their allies that had lived through it, and you couldn't tell who had it worse. The ones that were dusted or the ones who had to live in the aftermath. Fighting Thanos in and of itself will be enough to amp the stress levels of all involved. But those who were dusted had these ... dream sensations of being in a 'perfect' world that left them hollow and that was almost as disturbing. Some people even remembered the sensation of turning to dust. Strange and Peter were both part of those unfortunate ones and Peter, whose spider senses had warned him about what was to happen seconds before it had happened, had horrendous nightmares in the wake of his return. Often times, May was enough to calm him when he bolted awake, screaming. But the kid could only go back to sleep if he snuck into Tony's lab or bed and snuggled against him. More often than not, Peter would lean against Tony's legs as he worked, falling asleep on the floor and not even stirring until he either got enough sleep or someone woke him up. Schools were still out, so he didn't have to send the teen away when he obviously needed the comfort.

Harley wasn't much different. The kid had seen some of the closest people to him in the world either fight Thanos or leave on a spaceship into space or he had seen them turn into dust in the aftermath of the Snap. And when Tony returned, he was halfway across the world and out of reach. By the time he was _in_ reach, it was time for battle. Harley had then had to watch as Loki, Thor and Stephen fought to restart Tony's heart after he had used the Gauntlet. If all that wasn't traumatic enough, he had been part of the fight. Tony hated himself for bringing Harley into this world when he was still so young. The bright boy suffered from PTSD now, too, but he was at least a bit ready for it after having talked Tony down from a panic attack one too many times. It didn't change the reality of it that he had seen his family turn into dust while his pseudo father and brother disappeared into the unknown and only one of them came back. Fighting Thanos had only _ensured_ that he will suffer from PTSD. The boy at least didn't have any triggers and just had nightmares.

As for Tony ... Well, he had already had a boatful of PTSD before, but he had a few new nightmares to add into the mix. Mainly watching Stephen and Peter get beamed up, watching Stephen get tortured, watching Stephen and Peter both nearly be lost to the vastness of space, watching Peter and Stephen fight Thanos, watching Peter and Stephen turn into dust, but there were still plenty other problems that came along with these main ones. For one, he hated flying insects right now. He had had to apologize for snapping at Scott and his flying ants - he _still_ couldn't believe there was an ant named Anthony that actually liked him better than it did Ant Man himself and that followed him around like an overexcited lost puppy; why couldn't they have a _normal_ pet for once? - and even Hope a few times after he almost freaked out. At times, he swore he felt the crushing sensation of a moon slamming into him and there were still phantom pains in his left side where Thanos had ran that piece of metal through him. That, combined with nightmares of what if he had failed or the Gauntlet rejecting him easily kept him up most nights. Strangely enough, Afghanistan didn't haunt him as much, which was rather refreshing after ten years of it constantly being the center piece of his nightmares, and New York didn't have as much impact anymore, either. Having talked to Yinsen and the Space Stone, along with the others, constantly 'chatting' in his head had dissolved some of the guilt and terror they used to produce in him. Which was awesome, even if it left more room for new nightmares.

What he hated the most was that Strange had withdrawn from him. As had been stated earlier, sure, the man was busy as hell - Tony _had_ kind of dumped Wanda into his lap and he had to decide what to do with the Scarlet Witch after her trial had found her guilty and stripped her of all Avengers privileges; she hadn't helped her case by lashing out with her magic at the judge - but he used to be busy before, too, and he had still managed to visit Tony three times a week at the _very least_. Hell, Tony saw more of _Wong_ now than he did of Stephen. And he did not like that at all. It was unsettling. It threw Stark off and the genius was getting _sick_ of it. Had he done something to offend Strange? Had he really only been around to ensure that Tony brought about that one outcome where they won and now he was burning the bridges down because he realized he wouldn't need them anymore?

Well, good luck with that. Tony wasn't going to let him. Stephen had become as essential in his life as JARVIS and FRIDAY - the latter was only slightly jealous of just how much closer JARVIS being the Ambassador of Soul made them, but she said she had honestly expected nothing less, as there was no one who had been there for Tony like JARVIS had and she was just glad she could still connect with them through Extremis - are and if he thought he could just _walk away_, Tony was going to show him he had another thing coming. If Loki and Thor can come around once a week and if Nebula had declined her beloved sister's offer to join the Guardians of the Galaxy in their space adventures, then Stephen could make the time to at least pop in and say hi. Not that Tony was going to let him reduce their relationship to just that. No, Stephen had worked for getting Tony's trust, earning it. He had worked for the long haul. He was going to go through with it now that he got what he wanted.

Just as soon as Tony finishes up things here. "And as soon as the fighting was over and Thanos was secured by the Sorcerers of Kamar-Taj, Director Fury of New SHIELD ensured Mr Rogers was secured and brought in. Mr Rogers didn't put up any resistance in the arrest and he respected all the conditions of his holding period. As I know, he has been waiting for his court date patiently, looking over the Accords agreement and speaking with his lawyers. That is all." He finished his statement and waited for the predictable questions.

He didn't have to wait for long. "And why have you waited this long to make this statement about Siberia? It _has_ been quite some time since the so called 'Civil War'." The lawyer asked and Tony didn't even hesitate to formulate an answer and deliver it.

"I have been aware of a bigger threat since the dubbed Battle of New York, even if I didn't know exactly what it was. I knew Earth needed its best defenders, its greatest heroes, so I did my best to fight for the Avengers, as many may know. I looked for an alternative but I always wanted to have a backup plan should the new one fail. I didn't know if I had a time frame to prepare, so I didn't pursue justice against Mr Rogers. What happened in Siberia was a series of mistakes and personal problems as well as inner Avengers problems finally culminating in a big bang of negativity. That fight was bound to happen sooner or later. It is a miracle, plain and simple, that it had waited for so long. Ever since we all met for the first time under the supervision of SHIELD, the Avengers have always been, in the words of my close friend and college Dr Banner, a ticking time bomb. Always. And we always will be, that original team. I fought for that team, I tried my best to make it work, just because I knew we would need them. The Avengers." He paused, letting this sink in before he sighed. "I guess I didn't do good enough. The threat came and we still weren't ready."

"I was under the impression that you _were_."

Tony sighed again. "Yes, we had greater numbers and yes, we had the shielding up, but we obviously hadn't done a good enough job where security was concerned or we haven't been convincing enough to ensure ... 'one of our own' would support us. Which is what led us to this situation here." He looked at the silent Rogers, who had walked in with a somewhat confident stride, thinking _someone_ would support or defend him, but, to be honest, even his _lawyer_ looked ready to declare him guilty and he had been a _Captain America fanatic_. Rogers had started looking smaller and smaller with each statement made and now he was almost as small as he used to be before Project Rebirth. Tony will later blame it on the Soul Stone, or a moment of insanity, but ... "Look, I know he messed up. Big time. Probably more than anyone ever had before him." And he _wasn't_ going to mention Quill punching Thanos right out of his trance back on Titan. "But please take into account that he is a man well out of his time, who doesn't understand our time and is too used to being right all the time. That's our fault, you know. We let Propaganda get away with us and we let _him_ get away with a lot of things that we really shouldn't have. We should have made sure he understood the changes the world went through and we shouldn't have put him into active duty. Supersoldier or not, even he has his limits. We pushed those limits and this was the result. Now, I know, perhaps better than anyone, just how much he had done wrong in the recent past and I know what good he had done before that. I'm not saying that you should let him go unpunished - god, no! I'm just saying that you take into consideration that this man still fought for our planet. His bill is due. Make sure it is fair."

"Is that the end of your statement, Dr Stark?" The judge asked and the genius nodded. "Any more questions for the witness?"

"That's it, your honor." Both lawyers replied and the judge nodded.

"Well, then. Let's continue on to ... " The session droned on and on until it finally ended with a simple: "Steven Grant Rogers, this court finds you guilty of all accusations and you are sentenced to ten years of prison. For good behavior, you may be transferred to house arrest. But never again will you be allowed to enter the Avengers and you will be under _constant_ surveillance. Court dismissed." And after everyone walked out of the room - or portaled out, in Wong's and Stephen's case - Rogers actually had the balls to approach Tony as the guards led him out, making Nebula become tense as all hell, ready to leap at him should he prove to be dangerous. Tony just arched an eyebrow at the should be older man.

"Thank you, Tony, for speaking up for me. I know I didn't deserve it-" Stark cut him off before he could get too ahead of himself.

"You don't. And I didn't do it for you. I did it for Barnes. The way things were going, you would have been put into Alcatraz or something. Maybe they'd remake the RAFT just for you. And Barnes can't get the BARF treatment if he goes there with you."

Steve looked ready to cry but Tony just shook his head when the blond tried to speak. He just turned around and walked away, Nebula and Vision falling into step on either side of him, Thor and Loki waiting for them outside the Courthouse. He ignored Steve's calls from behind and his apologies, because this was the first day of the rest of his life. No more baggage. Tony Stark has once again risen from the ashes of his own demise and is soaring, bright and burning, higher than anyone else, like a true phoenix. The ice was far behind him and not even the sky was the limit anymore.

But first, he had a certain Doctor Wizard to pay a visit to.


	50. Chapter 50

**Endgame**

**Summary: The rouge Avengers are pardoned under the influence of King T'Challa and it is up to Tony to 'welcome' them back. But as he and his new team are at the private airport, an unexpected fight breaks loose and the fate of the whole universe is changed when a wizard places himself as Tony Stark's protector.**

Stephen guessed he should have been expecting this. It was a long time coming and it finally closed an era on the world and yet he had still been surprised when he received an invitation to the party that celebrated Thanos' defeat and Rogers' and the other rogues court results. Well, at least it was a celebration meant for the New Avengers, all their constant allies and SI's secret service, which meant the party had to take place in either the Avengers Compound or in Stark Tower. Of course, the Tower was chosen because everyone was _way_ more comfortable there than at the Compound, which had become a place of strictly business and only an emergency base. It could house the Milano, though, so it was the Guardians' parking spot on Earth, too, but rarely anyone had any good experiences there so only Accords and UN meetings were held there. The Tower was the natural choice for something so casual as this was.

Tony had went well out of his way, with the help of Danny, Pepper, Shuri and Hope, to make this party a spectacle to be remembered for years to come. There was no dress code while the setting was something between a club and a ballroom, all tastefully decorated, including the new addition of a mural of all of their hero symbols on a giant diamond wall that caught the light in a most beautiful fashion that Stephen had ever seen, T'Challa's, Tony's, Hank's and Danny's gift to them all for a job well done. The music was a mix that they could all dance to, not too loud to discourage conversation, bubbly enough to be celebratory but most of it was meant for a very casual setting. There were drinks and food for all tastes and a giant dinner table had been dragged from somewhere and placed in the kitchen on Tony's floor - the only floor big enough to house them all - even if there were smaller tables for anyone who might want some privacy or alone time. The whole Tower was engaged in the party, all floors, even the 'candy land' that were the R&D department and all the offices since SI employees were also invited, as well as their families and any guests they'd like to bring.

Most people had brought something along for the party: drinks, food, decorations, music, snacks, ice, a smoke machine and even a DJ stand. The entire Tower was so full of people that the sorcerers opened portals from the three Sanctums and Kamar-Taj or extended the big balcony on Tony's floor with magic so they could all fit. Tony at some point figured using the Infinity Stones can't hurt and pulled a Doctor Who, making the Tower bigger on the inside and cackling when Clint pointed out he could probably make a real life TARDIS now, to the horror of everyone. What was even more worrying is that Hank, Reed and Shuri insisted that they had to be a part of that project if he ever got bored enough to try it, which instantly drew Peter and Harley into the mix and all of Tony's minions in R&D in on it. Bruce had insisted he'd keep an eye on them but his, Betty's and Jane's scientific interest had been peaked. At this point, Stephen wasn't sure anything could stop them, especially if Selvig was somehow brought into this. And he actually looked tempted. Talk about a horror story.

The Guardians of the Galaxy had chosen to come back for the party. They had been traveling the universe, checking galaxy after galaxy to make sure every world was recovering but as soon as Thor and Nebula contacted them about the party, they had turned around and came for the party. Stephen felt like punching everyone who had ever caused Tony to be surprised when Nebula had declined to leaving because of him, having become so close with the genius and finding it unbearable to leave the one person who had accepted her like no other. The mutants had all come, as had a good number of Inhumans and Asgardians, the sorcerers coming in a slightly lesser number since _someone_ had to be watching the multiverse for threats. Still, there was so many people there that Stephen had not been able to catch Tony alone the whole night.

Barton and Wilson were the only ones from the rouges that were there and Wilson actually had to come with his parole officer. He was on house arrest for the next twenty years of his life due to the damage he had caused when following Rogers. Yes, the former SHIELD agents had had a say in this, suing him, Rogers, Romanoff and Barnes for all the grief and damage they had caused them during the fall of SHIELDRA. That, combined with Germany's demands after the Civil War mess, had landed the four a disaster of a lawsuit not even the most optimistic or skilled lawyer would attempt to tackle. Wilson even got off lightly, compared to Romanoff and Rogers. Barnes has yet to get a real trial, needing to become psychologically stable before he can be taken to court. Romanoff had the great misfortune to have the Soviets after her head. The Russians demanded that the last remaining offspring of their infamous Red Room be handed over so they could put her into an equivalent of a Black Widow RAFT and she can never be seen or heard from or inflicted onto the world ever again. Barton, since he had singed the Accords, agreed to retire and was serving his house arrest sentence without complaint, much like Scott - except the retired thing, that man won't quit being a hero just yet, not by a long shot - was pretty much free to go.

Rogers ... Well, Stephen usually wasn't a vindictive man but he was glad Rogers was out of their lives once and for all. And he was pretty sure no one here - except maybe Sam; they _had_ been friends, after all - would disagree with him, least of all Tony or anyone else from the TSDS - was it weird that it sounded more like a disease when said short instead of Tony Stark Defense Squad? Maybe it was just his doctor side rearing its head. Steve Rogers had finally gotten what he deserved for all his hypocrisy and the things he had done. Sure, it was admirable to try and protect your friend, but innocent people were dying or getting injured or losing people they loved. Stephen is a doctor. He'll never condone hurting others.

What really stumped them all was that Tony was one of the few people who will mourn the loss of Captain America. Perhaps more the ideal itself than the man, but it was still fact Rogers had been a big part of Tony's growing up. Rogers had partially made Tony Stark into the man that he was now, today. Had Howard Stark paid more attention to his only son instead of chasing after what could have been a long dead man, Tony could have been a completely different person. Had Rogers not kept accusing him constantly about _pretending_ to be a hero - and Stephen's blood boiled each and every time he thought of that - Tony would have been a lot different. Had Captain America stopped blaming him for Ultron, Tony would have probably started the preparations a long time ago instead of waiting for Stephen to come around with news of the incoming end of the world type of shit and they would have been ready for Thanos when he came. And had Steve not barely killed Tony ...

"You look like you're contemplating the time we have left until the next alien invasion we have to deal with and you don't like the looks of it." A very familiar and very dear voice said from next to him and Stephen looked down to Tony, who had come to stand by him and was nursing his first alcoholic drink since 2012, not counting that one time he had a drink with Loki while they discussed the Tesseract - that had been watered down to almost not even tasting like alcohol, for Tony at least. Loki had greatly enjoyed that old scotch. It took Stephen a second to realize just what Tony had said and his eyes widened in surprise. Meanwhile, the Cloak had been all too thrilled to wrap itself around the genius who was now watching Pepper, Christine, Carol and Hope talking. Wasn't _that_ a nightmare in the making.

"Wha-"

"Did you seriously think Time wouldn't tell on you? He's a bit of a snitch." Stark shrugged, still not looking at the flabbergasted sorcerer, instead warily watching Dante and Johnny doing fire tricks for Kamala and Storm. "Or a gossip. I can't tell, all I know for sure is that he needs a laugh or five. He likes your reactions, apparently."

"_He_?!" Tony now turned to look at him, a completely unimpressed look on his face, as if the say 'Seriously?' Stephen tried not to flush. "I wasn't aware that you can _talk_ to an Infinity Stone."

"Oh, yeah! They're all chatterboxes once you get to know 'em. Power and Space are a bit grumpy and Reality is like an overexcited child. Mind is the mature, cynical old dude and Time is the wise old man that can totally fit in with the youngsters. Soul is really sweet and kind and my favorite so far, but you didn't hear it from me," he said the last part in a stage whisper and Stephen watched how all the Infinity Stones glowed in protest or enjoyment. How he could tell that apart, he wasn't sure, but he found the entire thing hilarious. "But I'm pretty sure we have other, more important, more immediate things to talk about. Like how you've been practically avoiding me since you guys came back."

Stephen's face gentled and he leaned down until he was eye level with the genius and enjoyed the blush it produced. So he _had_ read that right. He tried not to get giddy about that fact. "Sorry. I had to reassert my ... dominance, you could say, in some dimensions as the Sorcerer Supreme. And between Mordo and Maximoff ... "

They both made a face at that. Neither Mordo nor Maximoff were an easy case to handle, either for Kamar-Taj or for the Accords and UN Councils. Both sides just wanted to get rid of them and dump them on to the other side, but that was easier said than done as _both_ sides were involved in this or that way. There were a lot of headaches involved but it was all solved now. Wanda had a year to change the err of her ways or else her powers will either be sealed off or removed entirely. She had no chance of ever becoming an Avenger again, not even as a consultant, and she won't ever go out into the field with the sorcerers. The best she can do is become stable for her own sake and the sake of all the people she could end up hurting. It's the best they can do for her. If she doesn't change, as Sorcerer Supreme, Stephen was obliged to make sure she can never again use her powers against anyone. T'Challa's previous efforts to secure her a pardon and prevent her from facing the justice she deserved after that Christine-Tony incident still stood, but she was on thin ice. One more mistake on her part and that was it. As for Mordo, Tony becoming the temporary and then the Vice Sorcerer Supreme had worsened his case. It had already been decided he will never get his powers back, but they can't let him go, either. Magic or no magic, Mordo was a skilled fighter and he would go after the sorcerers who didn't use their magic for 'the right reasons' - _were_ there any _real_ right reasons? - either way. He was dangerous and he had tried to escape Kamar-Taj a couple of times now, so he had been sent to keep Thanos company in their new, impossible to escape prison. Stephen still mourned the lost friendship and his mentor, but he was the Sorcerer Supreme and it was up to him to make sure all magic users on Earth used their magic safely and not to the cost of others. Mordo, at least, admired him for that, even though he still cursed Stephen's name for allowing Stark to get all the Stones and the other Masters for voting Stark into a place of power within the multiverse.

If there were guards in the prison itself, Stephen didn't doubt they'd gag the man after only an hour.

Tony shook his head and turned to fully face the taller man, Strange mirroring him, the party long since forgotten where the both of them were concerned. "You still could have told me."

He felt like looking away, not in shame but in discomfort. Mordo had been right about one thing. The bill comes due, always. And it had. A long time ago. Stephen had just never been aware of it until he looked into the future. "I wasn't ready to accept it myself and we both had enough on our plates without having to discuss my mortality. Or lack, thereof. Apparently," he sighed, now actually _looking_ away from those all too understanding amber eyes that he had come to love. "The price for defeating Dormammu by upsetting the natural law the way I had with the Time Stone is becoming timeless myself. Dormammu will not dare leave the Dark Dimension as long as I draw breath, so I will draw breath forever more. I am the last Sorcerer Supreme Earth will ever have, because I am quite immune to death. I guess Thor and Loki will get pissed when eventually even _they_ turn old and gray and I still look younger than them."

Stark chuckled at that, saluting with his drink in a rather mocking manner. "Cheers to immortality. At least I won't be lonely in waiting for Galactus." Stephen whipped around, startled, at the name of the Devourer so easily slipping past Tony's lips, alarmed by him even knowing it when _he_ only knew it from having used the Time Stone to study their future, _this_ future outcome, to the very end. Not to mention many others where the universe didn't live even this long if the Snap wasn't reversed.

Thanos put up a great fight, but you cannot battle a being older than the multiverse itself.

"How-"

"Did you think I wouldn't know?" Tony interrupted his predictable question, he being the one to avert his gaze this time. "I knew since I snapped my fingers to bring you guys back. The Stones told me all about them and their origin and how this cycle begins and ends. In great detail. They asked for me to stay with them."

"If you had, you wouldn't have been ... restarted." Stephen figured it was the best word he could find, staring at Tony with new understanding. So _that_ was why it was so hard to get him breathing again on that day. Communicating with the Stones on a plane of existence where they can speak probably interfered with, well, living. If Tony had decided to stay ... What would have happened until this repetition came to an end and Galactus came for the power necessary to recreate the next universe? Would Tony have even been aware? "You'd remember everything that happened here but would have lived in a new version of our universe. You could have changed so many things ... "

"It _was_ tempting." Tony admitted with a shrug. It was only natural to be tempted by the prospect of doing things differently, fixing any mistakes you may have made in your first attempt at life. A second chance. Not many are offered it. Countless others would have accepted immediately. Not Tony Stark. "But I knew it wouldn't be fair. I'd look at all these people I knew with the eyes of an old man and I'd try to change them, _mold_ them into a shape they weren't meant to be yet. I'm not God. It's not up to me to decide how life goes. And I'd know how it all ends, when all things are said and done. It wouldn't be fair. It wouldn't be _right_. And it would be lonely. It would hurt, having to watch certain events happen again. I'm a very selfish man, Doc. I don't want to feel that pain and loneliness."

Stephen was tempted to snort at the selfish comment - if there was ever a person in the entirety of existence that _wasn't_ selfish, it was Tony Stark, the man who saw no worth in himself and was ready to die for everyone else; just _how_ had Romanoff declared him to have narcissistic tendencies? Was she blind or stupid or something? Probably both, seeing how she had misjudged both Tony and Rogers - but he refrained from doing it. It wasn't the time for that. "You'll probably get the offer again, when the time is up."

"I'll still decline." The billionaire replied casually, not even hesitating. What threw Stephen off balance were his next words and he felt a bit winded. "It won't be you."

"What?" _'Great, Stephen. Just great. Show off how smart you are, how many words from a dictionary you memorized thanks to your photographic memory. That's sure to impress him.'_ Stephen could have thrown himself into the Dark Dimension with how embarrassed he was to have been reduced to one word questions for most of this conversation, which was also long overdue.

"It won't be you, in the next repetition. You'll be someone else. You won't know me. And I don't want that." Somber brown eyes met his evenly, conveying the sincerity of Tony's words. "Not to mention that I will know what will happen to you and that I'd have to let it. I don't want to live in a world where I could stop your pain but will have to let it be for the good of the universe. You're not the only one feeling this way, Stephen."

Said doctor's eyes widened at those words, watching as a flush came over his companion's cheeks but Tony didn't turn away to try and hide it. Instead, he stared stubbornly up into Stephen's eyes, clutching at his drink with his right hand while the left one was twitching, as though he was fighting the urge to tap a rhythm on the Arc Reactor like he usually did when he was stressed. The Sorcerer Supreme could hardly believe what he had heard. It just didn't sound possible that his feelings were returned, that this ... thing between them was mutual. There was, of course, the possibility that Tony felt this way because he knew the two of them would one day probably be the only living beings remaining as they waited for this repetition of the universe to end, but Tony Stark had never been the type to simply roll with something if it seemed to be out of his control. This was real. It was actually happening. It wasn't a dream or a far-fetched possible future of a dying universe. It was reality, _this_ reality.

Stephen couldn't hold himself back, sweeping in and doing what he had wanted to do almost from day one. He cast the Mirror Dimension around them and pulled Tony into his arms, hugging him tight as their lips met for the first time. They both ignored the shattering of Tony's glass of whiskey as he threw his arms around Stephen in turn, reciprocating the kiss as they clung to each other as if the world was ending right then and there. The Cloak of Levitation thrilled around them as it wrapped itself around both men and drew them closer, not that either man minded. The Cloak was as part of their lives as Tony's AIs were and they were likely to stay that way until it all came to an end.

The Infinity Stones shone brightly with their chosen contender's happiness and Stephen knew that Loki, Thor, Nebula, Vision and JARVIS were all too aware of what was going on away from prying, curious eyes in the Mirror Dimension, since he himself could feel it, too, the Time Stone sending echoes of Tony's feelings through the bond it shared with its Stonekeeper. The Ambassador of Time wondered if JARVIS and Nebula will try to take retaliation or give him even more shovel talks when they see him next. Quite possible. It was also quite possible that the Infinity Stones themselves will give him one, too. And yet none of that was nearly as important as holding Tony close after all this time.

Yes, hell awaited them in the upcoming years, watching their friends grow old and die and them realizing that the two were cursed with immortality. Yes, there will be demons and monsters and aliens and tyrants to fight in the years to come, but it was their job, their burden, one which they carried with pride and determination. And yes, they were bound to see the end of it all and _feel_ it all end, when it does, but they will know that they have done their best to extend this repetition, to the very best of their abilities, and that they have done good. They will lose so many people, but meet so many others, as well! And they will always have each other, even when the other Ambassadors no longer live - even androids, cyborgs and Asgardians have a date of death, long after the death of many worlds as it may be - and that will be enough. It will be enough until their own deaths. They will have not wasted their lives, because they will have saved so many people, perhaps even finally setting the balance of their past mistakes and their attempts to right them.

_Death is what gives life meaning_, the Ancient One had told Stephen in her last moments, holding his hand like a lost, frightened child, even with all her knowledge, years and experience. He was glad he will have someone's hand to hold when his own end comes. And, as he looked into Tony's eyes when they pulled apart, silly smiles on their faces even as tears rolled down their cheeks, Stephen Vincent Strange knew he would have never wanted anyone more to have in those moments than Anthony Edward Stark. They were birds of a feather, two of a kind, meant to see this through together and he will never regret any of his choices if they have led him to this here moment, right now.

They have reached the endgame, but _this_ is only the beginning.

And they will see it through. Together.

Like they were always meant to.

**THE END**


End file.
